Fate stay night: King of Fakers' route
by davido747
Summary: In his quest to find catalysts to summon the most powerful heroes, Tohsaka Tokiomi found by chance a catalyst related to a certain nameless hero. Time later, his daughter would use that catalyst without realizing it, dragging King of Fakers into the Holy Grail War. We will see how he fares with a tsundere master and a boy with very similar origins and equally idealistic.
1. Prologue

**Hey people, see you again after a while. As promised, here I bring you the first crossover with King of Fakers, which as you may have read in the title and description, is with the Fifth Holy Grail War. I chose as a base the Unlimited Blade Works's route, in particular, the adaptation of Ufotable, since it is in that Archer has much more protagonism. Look, that doesn't mean that events will be the same, otherwise writing this would be pointless. At first it will be quite similar, that is inevitable, but things will take a different direction over time.**

**Finally, for those of you who are wondering who the hell is King of Fakers? , it's a OC I created. His story and background are narrated and explained in my first fic _King of Fakers: Saving them all_. I'm not one to force you to read it, but it would be advisable to understand their actions and choices.**

**Without further ado, let this new story begin.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any right over Type-Moon or Fate franchise.**

* * *

As Counter Guardian, being summoned on the physical plane was not new to me. But this was the first time I was summoned in one of the so called Holy Grail Wars. Not surprisingly, my legend was not as famous as others, and as I recall, there are few objects that can be used as a catalyst to specifically summon me.

Even so, as small as it was, the possibility of someone summoning me still existed. Normally, when a heroic spirit is summoned, it usually appears in the magic circle destined to the ritual to achieve such feat.

So imagine my surprise when I suddenly found myself in the middle of the air, ten meters above the roof of a house. I didn't even have time to process where I was when I went through the roof and crashed violently into the floor of the room just below.

During the few interactions I had with Alaya, I could deduce that that entity did not have what could be called "human emotions." But, still, I can bet she is laughing at me right now. This must be her revenge for ruining her plans for me. I also blame my E rank luck.

I got up and shook the dust off my body. At least the Holy Grail gave me the basic knowledge of where I am, when I am and what I am getting into. I am in 2004, in a small eastern city called Fuyuki, and I have been summoned as the archer servant of the fifth Holy Grail War. Great. Why do I have to be involved in a senseless bloodbath to obtain a suspicious device that grants wishes? I don't even have a wish, and I doubt that artifact can break the contract I made with Alaya. Again, I blame my E rank luck.

But that makes this summoning even stranger. The only reason I can be called is to fight against something that threatens humanity. So, if Alaya allowed this, there must be something really big going on here. I guess for now I'll just play along until I figure out the real reason for my summoning.

I took a look at my current body and around me. My present appearance is the same as I had in the last years of my life, and I was dressed in the armor and cloak that my father gave me. The room I was in was Western style, well, I say it was because it's all messy and rubble right now.

To my surprise, my master, the person who called me to this plane, was nowhere in this room. I think it's better that way, I wouldn't want to bury him in rubble. I sat in an overturned closet between the rubble and set out to wait for my master to come.

Not a minute went by when the door of the room began to be forced, apparently it had jammed. With a strong blow, this one opened up and the person I assumed was my teacher came into the room half tripping.

When the Grail informed me that I would make a contract with a magus, I was expecting a grumpy old man in a fancy suit, basically, like most of the ones I met during my life. What I didn't expect to find was a 16 year old girl. Her hair was black and long, with a pair of twin pigtails on either side of her head. Her eyes were blue and she wore a red sweater, along with a short black skirt and shoes and long stockings of the same color.

In my day, at that age, you were practically an adult, but by current standards, this girl must still be going to high school. I had to resist my urge to sigh and put a hand on my face. What the hell is a girl of her age getting involved in something like this?

The girl looked in my direction and suddenly put both hands on her head and started making strange movements as she whispered something about the time. I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at this.

Finally, she looked at me again and spoke to me in a flat tone. "And who are you supposed to be?"

Then I got up and approached her as I answered. "As a response to your summons I have come. Servant Archer at your disposal, master."

I stood in front of her, I was quite taller so she had to look up to be able to look me in the eye. As she listened to me, she looked disappointed and sighed.

"Then you are not Saber. It's a shame, even though I spent all the prana I stored for years, I failed to summon the strongest card." That statement would have hurt my pride if I had one to begin with.

I closed my eyes and put my right hand on my hip. "Hum, what a demanding master I have. If it's any consolation, I'm pretty good with swords." When I said this I put on a confident smile.

She put on an expression of skepticism. "Yes, whatever you say. But do you have any proof that you really are my servant? Seeing your "entrance," you could be an enemy servant."

"The same could be said of you, you still haven't shown me your command seals. But, anyway, you should be able to feel the bond that unites us and by which you provide me with the prana necessary to be able to manifest myself." If I can feel it, any magus who knows the basics can.

The realization hit her and her eyes widened wide. Afterwards, she closed them, folded her arms and turned her head to one side. "Hum, I already knew that, stupid, I was just testing you. The relationship between teacher and servant is the first thing to clear up."

My left eyebrow rose and began to tremble, and my mouth opened a little. What kind of reaction is this!? I know my experience with women is practically nonexistent, but this... I don't know how I'm supposed to respond to this situation. My internal debate was interrupted by her clearing her throat.

"Anyway, why don't we go to another room that isn't... ruined, to continue our conversation?"

"If that's what you want, lead the way master."

We leave the room and head to another on the same floor of the house. This one was almost dark, the only lighting we had was the moonlight coming in through the windows. In the middle of the room was a low table with a couple of sofas around it, behind that was a typical office desk, and on the walls were several shelves filled with books and some fairly complex mystic codes.

While I was inspecting the room, the girl sat on one of the sofas and started watching me. After a few moments of silence, she broke it.

"From what I see, your parameters are decent, leaving out your luck, but they're still inferior to the Saber class." I can't help it, as much as I pushed my body to the limits and perfected my magecraft as much as I could, being human, I get to a point where I just couldn't get any stronger. Then I heard a gasp coming from my master.

"Noble Phantasm rank EX, that's broken! What noble Phantasm do you have!?" Oh, she must be referring to "that sword." I doubt I can use it in a situation like this where I'm forced to kill my opponent.

"Unfortunately master, to use that particular noble phantasm I need to meet certain conditions, so I doubt you can use it in combat. But don't worry, that won't affect my combat capabilities."

"Really! Aaah mo! I thought we'd already won the war! Don't give me false hope like that, stupid Archer." As she yelled at me, she was stretching her pigtails and moving his head from side to side. Again, another strange reaction. I just looked at her with an emotionless expression.

When she stopped her outburst, she turned to me with a curious face. "By the way, you still haven't told me what a heroic spirit you are."

Well, I guess it's time to drop the bomb. "Looks like you pulled the short straw master, you summoned an nameless entity."

She stared at me completely paralyzed and blinked a couple of times. When her brain finished processing the information, she burst.

"What!? You can't be serious, it's impossible to summon a hero so little known that he doesn't even have a name! And yet, you must be registered with some title on the throne of heroes."

"Well, my legend isn't very famous, but yes, the nickname I'm known for is King of Fakers."

"I've never heard of a hero with such a ridiculous name! This can't be happening to me, for a moment I thought I'd summoned a decent servant, and now it turns out he doesn't even remember his name." Her voice went out as he spoke and she stared at the ground with empty eyes.

Oops, I didn't think this would affect her so much. Quickly, think of something to cheer her up. "How little faith you have in me, master. Even if I don't remember my name, that doesn't mean I'm weak. I promise I will protect you and lead you to victory, after all, that is the purpose of my summoning. Just let me handle the fighting." At the end of my speeches I folded my arms, closed my eyes and began to pray internally so that I did not screw up.

I heard her getting up off the couch and slowly approaching me. When her steps stopped, I opened one of my eyes and saw her in front of me with her arms on her back and leaning forward. To my relief, there was a smile on her face.

"Then I will trust you, Archer. Have me retract my words and grant me victory." Hearing that I could not help but smile.

"Of course, master. But enough about me, I'd like to know about you, I don't even know your name." After hearing my request, his mouth slightly opened and his cheeks dyed a little red.

"That was an oversight on my part. My name is Rin, Tohsaka Rin, you can call me whatever you want."

I put a hand on my chin, I seem to remember that the Tohsaka name was mentioned in the information you gave me, but I can't find it. I decided to put it aside for the moment and continue the conversation.

"So Rin, huh. It's a nice name." Hearing that, for some reason her face turned even more red, she looked away and whispered something about not saying those kinds of things to a lady so lightly. It must be tiredness, it's late enough at night.

"Although, given the large amount of prana flowing through our bond, I can say that you are a talented Magus, what is the reason for you to participate in this war at your age? What is your wish that you want the Grail to fulfill?"

"I don't really have any desire, I just fight to win. Moreover, as the last member of the Tohsaka family, one of the three founding families, I have long been preparing to be a master." This is certainly odd, it would be normal for a Magus to get the Grail to get to the root, although now that I am a Counter Guardian I know that Alaya is in charge of getting rid of anyone who gets close enough. But I could detect no sign of malice or deception in her words, her reasons are completely genuine.

I dropped my serious expression and showed a smile. "Well, I'm okay with that. As long as your intentions are not dishonest, I will follow you wherever you go master." I omitted the fact that I don't have a wish either, that would make me have to give a lot of explanations, and I'm not really sure why I was summoned either.

With the conversation over, I raised my right arm and stretched it forward. "I suppose with this we can say that our contract is already fully established."

She stared at my hand for a few moments until she finally understood what she wanted. She raised her right arm and we shook hands.

"Yes, you're right."

Once we let go of our hands, Rin headed for the door to leave the room. "Follow me Archer, I'll give you your first assignment."

I nodded and followed her. She went down a few stairs and began to rummage through a small closet. From this she drew a brush and a dustpan and threw them at me. I caught them in the air and stared at her with an eyebrow up.

"Since you caused all that mess in the room, it's gonna be you who cleans it."

"Do you really expect me to do that? Rin, I think you took the term "Servant" too literally."

Then she raised her right arm and showed me the back of her hand. In this I could see the three command seals in the form of a pair of semicircles, one inside the other, and a vertical line below these. My eyes opened to the fullest by realizing her intentions.

"Hey hey wait! Don't tell me you're going to use a command seal on something so irrelevant!"

"Shut up Archer! I'll use it if you keep revealing yourself against my orders."

We stared at each other in silence until I finally breathed a fairly audible sigh and resigned myself.

"All right, I'll clean the room, but don't use a command seal."

"That's much better. For now I will go to sleep, good night Archer." After saying that, she disappeared into the halls of the house and left me alone. Something tells me I'm gonna have a lot of headaches dealing with this girl.

* * *

I spent most of the night fixing the mess I caused with my crash landing, but I finally managed to leave the room as it was before. Seeing as it was still hours before Rin woke up, I decided to explore the rest of the house. This of not having the need to sleep and eat had its advantages, although in my time in life I was already accustomed to sleep very few hours.

I found nothing very strange, the only remarkable thing was the lack of advanced technology that one would expect to find in this era. It seems the Magus maintained their aversion to technological advances to this day, what a waste.

When I went down to the basement, I found Rin's workshop. It was a very dusty room full of magic volumes, a large magic circle painted on the floor, where it should have appeared, and a table next to it. Above the table was an open safe and several jewels, in which I can deduce that Rin stored her prana. Inside the safe was a couple of objects that caught my eye. The first was a moult of very old snake skin, belonged to an era even before mine, certainly a catalyst for a heroic spirit of the oldest. The second looked like a fork that was much larger than the standard, with a silver tone underneath all the rust that covered it. But looking closer I could see that it was the hilt of a sword, one I would recognize anywhere. I used Structural grasp to be safer, and yes, this was Redeemer's hilt.

Well, that solved the question of why I was specifically summoned. Apart from that I could not find anything more unusual. I refrained from cleaning the place up a bit since I didn't want to set off any traps and I got out of there.

It was eight in the morning and the sun was already out. Strange, isn't Rin supposed to go to school at this hour? I guess the night before she ended up more exhausted than I expected, I'll let her rest then. Meanwhile, what should I do? Should I try to prepare breakfast? My culinary skills are mediocre at best, enough not to starve to death.

"Well, I don't think it would hurt to try." I told myself and headed to the kitchen next to the room where I crashed.

The moment I walked in and saw the complexity of the kitchen, I threw away my idea immediately. I'll probably wind up burning or exploding something. I searched the lockers to see if there was anything even I could prepare, and I found a tea kit. This is already something I'm a little familiar with, and it came with the recipe.

Following the recipe and with a liberal use of structural grasp, I began to prepare the tea meticulously. I lost track of time and finally managed to do something decent. I was a little proud of my work, but I pushed those emotions aside quickly. I put the kettle and a couple of cups on a tray and left the kitchen.

Outside I found Rin, with her hair loose and dressed in her pajamas, staring at the room.

"Wow, he really left it as it was." I heard her whisper to herself.

"Good morning Rin." When she heard me she was a little startled, but when she realized it was me she calmed down.

"Oh, it's you Archer. Good morning, did you make tea?"

"Well, since I had nothing to do, I decided to try."

She sat on one of the armchairs and I served her a cup at the table facing her. Her movements would not be out of place in a ghoul. It seems that my master is not a very early person. She took the cup, blew it softly and took a sip.

"It tastes pretty good, Archer." That was better than I expected. Part of me was hoping she'd spit it out.

"Thank you, master."

We were silent for a few moments, while she was quietly drinking the tea. Finally, she started the conversation.

"Tell me, Archer, do you think you can by any chance remember your name?"

"I'm afraid that's pretty unlikely, it's been a long time since I've forgotten. My memories of my life are mostly blurred, I only remember clearly the most important facts." She stared at me with a question mark.

"What happened to you to end up like this?" I don't blame her for wanting to know more about her servant, but right now, I don't feel like thinking about it.

"That's a long, depressing story, if you want, I'll tell you another time. But more importantly, what are your plans for today Rin, I doubt that at this time you will go to school."

"In that you are right. Prepare to leave Archer, I'll show you the city."

"Wise choice. As Archer, I must be familiar with the terrain when it comes to fighting." That said, Rin finished his tea, had breakfast, dressed in his school uniform and a red coat on top and we went out to explore the city.

We spent all day circling the city, exploring every street on foot and visiting all points of interest. Meanwhile, I was in spiritual form not to be seen by "normal" people. I still can't get used to this invisible, intangible thing.

The city of Fuyuki was divided into two parts, Shinto and Miyama city, separated by a river. Miyama city is the oldest part, and the suburban area contains most houses, traditional buildings and the foreign district. This is home to the Tohsaka residence, the Homurahara Academy attended by Rin, and Mount Enzo. Shinto is the most modern part, so it is full of skyscrapers. Here you will find the Town Hall, the port and most shops. Apparently, this was devastated by a fire ten years ago and recently it was rebuilt, making it look like, according to Rin, an artificial city. That part of the fire brought back a lot of memories.

It finally got dark and we ended up on the roof of one of the skyscrapers. Rin was on the edge of the roof, looking down the streets with a small smile and her right hand resting on her hip, while I was behind her. Then it was she who spoke first.

"What do you think? From here it looks all right, doesn't it?" She's right, from this point I can shoot an enemy in practically any part of the city.

I materialized sitting in a vent next to her to continue the conversation, from my point of view, it feels strange to talk to someone you can't see. "So why didn't we come here in the first place?"

"What are you saying? From here you only have a panoramic view. If you don't go to the specific places you won't know how the city is built."

"It doesn't have to be that way. As a servant of the archer class, I have a very good view. For example, I can tell how many tiles that bridge has just by looking at it."

"What a surprise. So you really are an archer, despite saying you're good at swords." That answer came with a slight sarcastic tone.

"Rin, you're not making fun of me, are you?" I said that more as a statement than a question.

"Of course not." By his smile I could already say yes. At that moment, she noticed someone standing in the streets below the building where we were and whispered something for herself. "Sure it's him."

"Did you find an enemy?" On hearing my question, she turned and walked away from the edge of the terrace.

"No, he's just an acquaintance, a normal person who has nothing to do with us." I could tell from her tone that that wasn't the whole truth, but I let it go.

I got up from where I was sitting and took a look at where Rin had been looking, moved by curiosity. I found the person my teacher was talking about on top of a bridge across a road. He was a teenager the same age as Rin, with red hair and wearing the uniform of the Homurahara Academy. But what really caught my attention were his ochre eyes with a slight golden hue. They reminded me a lot of mine before they turned steel gray.

I let it go and headed back towards Rhine. Seeing me would bring nothing good to the boy. At that moment, Rin stopped on her walk around the roof to look at me directly.

"So, what did you think of Fuyuki, Archer?"

"It's certainly impressive, a quiet place to live and at the same time full of life. It's amazing to see how the world and humanity have advanced since I died. Still, in terms of beauty, it is still surpassed by the capital of the Roman Empire."

"Did you live in the Roman Empire?"

"I lived around that time and visited the capital of the Empire, but I am from Britain." When she heard my answer, she looked at me with a strange face.

"Didn't you say your memories were blurred?"

"That's true, but I told you I still remember some of the most important facts."

She grunted for confirmation and the conversation ended.

After that we went back to the Tohsaka residence. We were walking along a road in the district of foreigners, when suddenly, Rin hid behind the unevenness caused by another road that descended to cross with which we were traveling. She was watching a couple of people talking on that road.

"Rin, why are you hiding?"

"She's an acquaintance. I didn't go to school today, so I don't want her to see me."

Then I took a look at the two people. The first one, the one with her back to us, was a girl one or two years younger than Rin. She had purple hair, a rare color for a human if you ask me, and she was wearing the same uniform as my master. The second person was a man of a stature slightly shorter than me and wore a white shirt under a black tracksuit. Her hair was blond, almost golden, and her eyes were red, with her pupils torn. This guy was giving me a bad feeling, the aura he emitted, though repressed, was powerful, proud and charismatic, similar to Nero's. Besides, I only know two types of beings who have red eyes, dead apostles, descendants of Crimson Moon, and beings with divine inheritance.

This made me tense and prepared to trace Kanshou and Bakuya at any moment. Apparently, Rin didn't notice and kept watching the girl. The conversation between the two ended, and the blond man walked in the direction where we were, but he passed by and disappeared around a corner. For a moment, our eyes met. His pompous smile disappeared from his face and showed me a dismissive look.

If he could see me in spiritual form, that means he is a Servant, although his presence was slightly different. I filed it to investigate later and followed Rin home.

* * *

The next morning came, and this time, Rin got up on time to go to the academy. I asked her why she wanted to attend classes in the middle of the Holy Grail War, and she replied that being surrounded by so many people, it was very unlikely that she would be attacked there.

Just before leaving, Rin called the priest who was in charge of overseeing the war to notify that she had summoned the Servant Archer. The supervisor tried to talk about something else, but Rin hung it abruptly.

After that, we headed to Homurahara Academy. Along the way we talked about the other magus who resided in this city, who were potential enemies. Apparently, there was only another magus family in this town, and Rin had already confirmed that they were not participating in the war.

By the time we set foot at the entrance to the school, we noticed that we had crossed a bounded field. My master tensed up completely, but kept her composure so as not to attract the attention of the other students around.

We entered the main building and headed to a discreet place to talk about this without being heard by others. We ended up under some stairs, next to an emergency exit.

"You felt it too, didn't you?"

"Yes, someone has set a bounded field around the entire academy, one that can be easily perceived and by what seems not yet finished."

"It must be of very low level if it draws so much attention. The one who put it must be a beginner, the best thing would have been to keep it hidden until it was ready."

"What do you plan to do about it, Rin?"

In answer to my question, she looked at me with determination. "No matter is low level or not. I will defeat anyone who has put such a despicable thing in my territory! Archer, after class, we'll start by investigating the barrier. After inspecting what kind of delimited field it is, we will decide whether to eliminate it or not."

Her speech was interrupted by the sound of several papers falling to the ground. We turned quickly to see what it was, but to our relief, we only saw a student picking up some papers at the beginning of the stairs. By coincidence of fate, she was the same girl we met last night.

Rin said goodbye to me and went to help her. I heard the brief conversation between the two of them before they started picking up the papers, and I noticed something seemed off. The tone of both, though very well concealed, seemed a little forced, as if they were forced to speak to each other as mere acquaintances and their real relationship was different. That, along with the way Rin looked at her last night, made me suspicious, but I left it for another time and quietly left for the emergency exit.

I spent the day exploring the academy in spiritual form, looking for any other potential threat or the magus who set that bounded field. I didn't find much, and my search turned out to be more of a tourist ride. I couldn't help it, the idea of public education for everyone was unthinkable in my time. The only suspect I found, if I can call him that, was a student who used structural grasp to repair broken appliances. And by chance, again, it was the same redhead boy we saw yesterday from the roof of the building. Seriously, I'm starting to think this isn't a coincidence, and here's a complex plot unfolding behind my back.

Anyway, after observing the boy for a while, I could not notice any malicious intent in him. He was simply helping anyone who needed him without asking for anything in return. A behavior frighteningly similar to mine when I was alive. Also, seeing how little magical energy I could feel coming from him, I decided to rule out the idea that he was the culprit.

Classes ended and I met Rin again to analyze the bounded field. We discovered that its purpose was to liquefy all the humans within it in order to absorb their souls, so we set about deactivating it immediately. It was not too complicated to deduce, that if our enemy's goal was to gather souls, this had to be a servant. After an intensive search throughout the school building, we found several magical circles that constituted the delimited field and Rin deactivated them.

It got dark, and right now we're on the roof deactivating a magic circle next to the water tank. Once it was over, Rin started talking to herself.

"This is the seventh. We seem to be at the starting point. I have never seen or heard such language. And now what do I do? I can't handle this."

"Well, I may have a method of destroying the delimited field, but for that I need to find its energy source."

"Oh, I didn't know you were a magecraft expert." Again, more than praise, it sounded like a mockery. I'm sure she saw my rank in magecraft. Anyway, my plan was simply to cut the power supply to the barrier using Retriever.

After a few moments of silence, Rin's naughty smile disappeared and he took on a serious face. "Archer, is it true that the Servants are like this, that you devour souls?"

"The truth is that yes, just as living beings consume flesh for energy, the Servants, as spiritual entities, can obtain energy by consuming souls."

"But isn't the prana supplied by the teacher enough?"

"Normally yes, but there's nothing wrong with having more magical energy, after all, Servants are more powerful when more magical energy they have." That last thing I said with a grin, but since I was in spiritual form, Rin didn't see it.

"That irritates me, we'd better not talk about it again."

"I agree, I will never do something like that, it goes against my ideals." When she heard my answer, she showed a smile.

"Then we'd better get rid of it. At the moment, we can get in the way." Before we could get to work, we were interrupted by an unknown voice.

"Are you going to eliminate it? What a waste" The temperature in the environment under a few degrees and we both tense up completely. We turned quickly to the direction from which the voice came, to meet a man crouched over the water deposit. He was wearing a tight blue battle suit and some parts of silver armor, his eyes were red and his hair was blue and he was tied in a pair of pigtails. Besides, he was carrying a red spear and quite a long one that gave off an enormous thirst for blood. If we add up his presence more than remarkable, we didn't have to work too hard to deduce that this guy was a Servant.

When her eyes met Rin's, he showed a confident smile and she started to sweat. Then she took the initiative.

"Was it you who did this?" She asked pointing to the strange magic circle at her feet.

"No, these tricks are magus' doing. We just fought, as ordered, didn't we, invisible friend?" The last part he said by looking directly at me.

Rin realized this and clenched his teeth. "You can see Archer... you're a servant!" Although she tried to hide it, I could tell how nervous she was. As I assumed, it seems that Rin has never participated in a real battle before.

The guy stood up, revealing that he was of a similar height to mine, and continued to speak. "If you know that, you're my enemy, right?"

I had to act, before it was too late. "_Rin! You have to concentrate, what are your orders?_" I told her through our mental link. She reacted and began to observe her surroundings. Her answer came a few seconds later.

"_We can't fight here, being surrounded by fences. We have to get out of here._"

The guy with the spear noticed and spoke again. "Wow, awesome. You don't seem to know much, but you control the main thing. I made a mistake, I shouldn't have talked to you just for fun." While he was saying that, he turned his spear a couple of times in his hand and placed it with the tip pointing to the right. Then he poured some prana into the spear, and it began to emit a bloody red glow.

My master reinforced her legs using her family crest, and narrowly avoided being cut by the blade of our enemy's spear. She ran as fast as she could to the edge of the roof and jumped over the fence that prevented any student from falling from up here.

Luckily, the man took it slow and followed her at the same rate. Meanwhile, I was closely following Rin, who was now falling towards the track that was right next to the building.

"Archer, take care of the landing!" I immediately materialized behind her and grabbed her in the so called "bridal style." I landed gently and leapt forward, dodging the descending thrust of the red spear. As I fell, I slowed my momentum by sliding my boots and released Rin to continue running forward through inertia.

By this point, the man was already behind us, and attacked Rin with a wide sweep from right to left. I immediately traced Kanshou in my left hand and turned to face him. With a rapid upward swing, I hit the bottom of the spear blade, deflecting the attack upwards. The man opened his eyes and leapt backwards to create distance between us and avoid a counterattack.

He stood in a defensive posture with his spear on his left side and bowed with the tip pointing to the ground. I stood in the same position, standing between him and Rin, as I watched him with an emotionless expression.

The guy showed a smile again and talked. "Okay, that's the way it should be. I like people who understand things quickly."

Then I heard Rin's voice behind me. "Servant Lancer"

"The same. Your Servant doesn't seem Saber. Who are you?" I did not bother to answer his question, the less information about me my enemy has, the better for us.

"You don't look like the type to fight body to body, so you must be Archer." That said, he abandoned his posture and left his spear by his side in a vertical position, leaning its back on the ground. "Come on, pull your bow, Archer. I will wait." He seemed really confident.

Then I turned my head slightly to the side to see Rin sideways.

"Archer?" From her tone of voice and her face, she was worried and nervous. I dropped my stoic expression for a moment, nodded and showed her a confident smile.

She stared at me for a few moments a little surprised, but eventually her expression was filled with determination. "Archer, I will not help you in this fight. I want you to show me your power!"

Without further words, I returned to my neutral expression and looked back at my opponent. I still wonder why I'm following the current of this absurd war. But, this girl was involved in this and put herself in danger by the whims of her predecessors. I promised to protect her and I will, I will save her. And furthermore, the people outside this whole mess who live in this city are also in danger of being involved, I will also protect them. I'm going to save you all.

I used structural grasp on his spear and got all the information about its abilities and its owner. Gáe Bolg, the spear that was given to Cú Chulainn by the queen of the Land of Shadows, Scathach. Its two noble phantasms were really dangerous, practically securing the death of the target. And to top it all off, its owner was one of the most famous heroes of Irish folklore and a demigod.

The odds were totally against me, but, has there ever been a time in my life that it wasn't that way?

The fighting style I developed during all my battles was based on defending first and attacking the openings of my opponent created by feints. But, seeing as Lancer was still in the same place, waiting for him to attack, I guess I'll have to take the initiative.

I reinforced myself slightly, I didn't want to exaggerate and go all the way first. I kicked the floor and threw myself in front of Lancer. In Rin's eyes, I disappeared leaving a small crater on the ground where I had been.

Lancer's eyes sharpened and he prepared instantly for the attack. He made a full three hundred and sixty degrees turn and swung his spear horizontally, striking Kanshou's side and deflecting my attack to my left. I tried another horizontal swing, but he just put his spear upright in front of him and blocked the attack. He then turned his spear upward, forcing me to back off, and swung his weapon in a downward cut pointing at my head.

I struck the blunt part of the spear with Kanshou, causing it to crash beside me on the ground, and I immediately launched a counterattack. Lancer eluded him, turning to his right, and took his stand again.

Seeing that his guard was not going to be easy to cross, I changed my tactics. I further reinforced my legs and took advantage of the increase in speed to attack him from different angles. Although I managed to surprise him, I was unable to strike any decisive blow. His spear was too long and easily countered Kanshou's limited reach.

We were at an impasse, but we could both say that neither of us was giving everything. I guess it's time for me to get a little more serious.

After stopping his last attack, I jumped backwards. An absurd maneuver from his point of view, if I was already having trouble striking a blow by being near him, if I let him attack me by exploiting the range of his spear I'll be in serious trouble. But, having analyzed his fighting style with this brief Spar, I can apply mine without risk.

"Idiot." Lancer rushed at me with tremendous speed, intending to stab me the moment I fell to the ground.

When I landed, I left a deliberate opening on my left side as I raised my arm more than I had to. You'd think the hole in my defense showed up on the landing, but that was far from the truth. As I suspected, Lancer attacked the opening without a second thought. I reinforced my left arm further, and I hit the spear with a backswing without having to look at it, making the spear miss me by a little. I stepped forward and started swinging with my seemingly empty right hand. To his surprise, Bakuya appeared in my hand, and he had to tilt his body back to avoid being cut.

Lancer backed off to pull himself together and I took my characteristic stance to await his next attack. He looked briefly at his wound and then looked at my two married swords.

"Do you use two swords? An archer trying to imitate a swordsman?!" After shouting that at me, the fight resumed.

This time, Lancer became more serious and increased his speed and strength of his attacks. It was not a big problem for me, now that I was wielding both married swords at once, they provided me with an increase in my resistance, and with two swords I could parry and deflect their attacks more comfortably.

The real problem was, he was now harnessing the reach of his spear to attack me with repeated thrusts without giving me room for counterattack. In addition, his weapon was far more powerful than Kanshou and Bakuya, so my swords began to break upon receiving his attacks. I managed to get out of the way by quickly replacing them with traced copies.

"Tsk, how many of those swords do you have? I've already disarmed you 27 times, and you keep getting more." His comment was showing annoy, as if he was getting tired of repeating the same process all the time. Be that as it may, his pace fell. It was an almost imperceptible change, but thanks to all my experience represented by my eye of the mind, I could realize it and decided to take advantage of it.

At that moment, he threw a thrust at me from his right side. I reinforced both blades and struck his spear from below with the blunt part of Kanshou, causing the thrust to redirect to my right. Immediately, I struck the spear from above with Bakuya, causing it to crash into the ground. Without giving him time to pull it out, I stepped on the handle of the spear with my right foot and used it as support to throw a high kick with my left leg at his head.

With his weapon immobilized, he had no choice but to cross his left arm and stop my kick with his forearm. This caused his left side to be wide open, and I didn't waste a second jumping with my right leg and throwing another kick to his head, this time reinforcing it to the limit. He did not have time to drop his spear and cover himself with his right arm, so he received my full attack and flew off to the school building.

He crashed into the wall and through it, finishing what looked like the academy cafeteria. Oops, I hope Rin doesn't have to pay for collateral damage.

My line of thought was interrupted by a cart that shot out of the hole in the wall and landed beside me. From the dust came Lancer practically unharmed, with only a few bloodstains on his temple, and with a huge smile.

"Looks like you can do it when you set your mind to it." This guy really likes to talk.

For some reason, I was willing to follow his conversation for the first time since we met. "You're not taking this seriously either. Where did all that impetus you showed at first go?" My voice came out flat, without containing any emotion.

"Crafty dog. If you try to provoke me, you're not doing very well. Okay, I'll ask you, what heroic spirit are you? I never heard of an archer using two swords." No wonder, my legends are not very famous, and as far as I know, I exist in a few timelines.

"Well, it's easy to know who you are. Is said that the fastest heroes are picked for the Lancer class, but even among them, you're one of the best. There won't be more than three as good as you, and if we add your savage beast agility, there's probably only one." I dropped that bit of information, so he could interpret it as he wanted.

"Hoh, you praise me, Archer." After he said that, his smile disappeared and he turned to fall into a posture in which he gave me his back partially. He stretched his left arm down and grabbed his spear so that it formed 45 degrees with the ground, with the blade pointing to the ground, and began to fill it with prana.

"So you want to take one of my strikes?"

"If that's what you want..." I tried to stay calm and not show any signs of concern. He clearly intended to use his noble phantasm, and that surprised me. We weren't even really fighting until a moment ago, and he already wants to use one of his most powerful attacks. There are few weapons in my arsenal that can stop something like this, and I wouldn't want to have to use anything flashy so soon. I held back so far because of the possibility that some familiars of an enemy master might be watching us. I didn't want to blow up the school either.

Behind me I could notice the anxiety that Rin was feeling, no doubt she realized the grave situation in which we find ourselves. I dissipated Kanshou and Bakuya and prepared to trace the weapon I chose to counteract his noble phantasm.

Or that's what would have happened if it wasn't because we were interrupted by the sound of footsteps.

"Who's there?" Lancer stopped and turned quickly to look in the direction of the sound. I did the same, and I saw a student running inside the main building. To my surprise, Lancer ran after him immediately, completely forgetting me.

"Was there one student left in the academy!" I heard Rin's alarmed voice beside me.

"It looks like it. I don't know why Lancer just left like that, but it looks like we're out of the woods."

"Where did Lancer go?"

"He ran after the student." By saying that, my brain finally connected the dots and I realized what was going on here.

"This is bad, you probably want to kill him for being a witness! Go after him, Archer-!" I didn't hear the last thing she said since I was running at full speed in the direction those two went. I went up to the upper floor corridor following Lancer's presence, but I stopped as I turned the corner leading to the corridor. I had arrived late. The boy was lying on the ground, in a pool of his own blood. On top of that, he was the same redheaded boy I observed this morning. Surely, someone asked him for a favor and he stayed until this hour doing what he was asked.

My fists tightened tightly and my expression became quite sinister. I was really angry, I always hated that absurd and selfish policy of witness elimination. Why do they have to kill innocents just to see something supernatural when there's something called hypnosis?

"Archer?" I didn't even notice when Rin arrived. I turned to look at her and she leaned back a bit frightened by the face I was currently putting on. When I realized this, I forced myself to put on a neutral expression.

Once she calmed down, Rin stepped out into the hallway, and when she saw the scene she made the most serious face I've ever seen on her.

"Archer, chase Lancer. If I don't see his master's face, nothing will have been worth it." I mod silently, take spiritual form and jump out the window to follow the Lancer trail.

* * *

After several laps around Miyama City, Lancer ended up running away from me. I have a feeling he never intended to go back to his master. Anyway, I returned to the Tohsaka residence and found Rin lying on a sofa, covering her face with his hand. I materialized beside her to give him the bad news.

"I'm sorry, I failed. He must have a very careful master."

"Yeah, I guess it couldn't have been that easy." After she said that, she lay down on the couch. Her voice sounded off and her face was slightly depressed.

"So, what did you do with the boy at the end?" I asked with some curiosity.

"Well, since it was my fault he died, I decided to take responsibility. I healed his wound with the prana stored in one of my gems. After that, I left the place before he woke up."

I raised an eyebrow at his answer. "And you just left him like that?"

She rose to answer me with slight discomfort, but stopped in the middle when her eyes widened by realization.

Wait! If Lancer's master realizes that the witness he supposedly killed is still alive, he will send his servant back to kill him again."

Moments later, I found myself taking Rin in the bridal style, while jumping from rooftop to rooftop following her directions to get to the boy's house.

"After all I did to save him, I can't let him die!"

From a distance, I could see a huge traditional house, and in its courtyard was Lancer.

"There he is, the servant of class Lancer!" Rin also saw it, and I accelerated the pace to get there as soon as possible. I don't think the boy will hold out much longer against a servant.

I landed next to the outer wall of the mansion, a few meters from the door to the courtyard, and released Rin gently onto the ground. This one started running towards the door, and I would have, too, if I hadn't noticed something. Lancer's presence was turning away, but most importantly, the presence of a new servant had appeared.

"Wait, Rin, there is not only one servant!" I shouted at her urgently, and she stopped to look at me, but it was too late. The new servant leapt from the roof of the mansion toward Rin, making a gesture of swinging a weapon with his empty hands. No, after I strengthened my eyes I could see a distortion in the air right above his hands, there was definitely a weapon there.

I quickly stood in front of Rin and pushed her back with my right arm. I traced Kanshou in my left hand and swung it toward the "weapon" of the Servant. There was a sound of collision of steels and the sparks went off. His attack deflected to the ground, and the enemy Servant landed right in front of me. This one then threw me an ascending cut with his invisible weapon, which I countered with a swing in the opposite direction with Kanshou.

Immediately, I traced Bakuya in my right hand and threw a cut at his neck, which was at the height of my chest. My opponent leapt back gracefully and evaded it completely without much effort.

Without wasting time, I followed her so she wouldn't have a chance to pull herself together. However, my offensive was interrupted when I realized the appearance of my opponent. The first thing that came to my mind was: "Nero!?". Because of my loss of focus, my attack with Bakuya was much slower and easier to read, so she just hit my blade with her weapon from below, making this and my right arm rise up.

She quickly struck back with her invisible weapon, and I managed to put Kanshou on the path of this. I let myself be carried away by the force of his attack and I slid back a few meters to get myself together and observe better my opponent. Her resemblance to Nero Claudius was enormous, same height, same emerald eyes and same blond hair tied in a bow on the back of his head. But there were also several differences. She wore a blue and white dress, similar to Nero's design but not so revealing, and above it she wore a silver armor that included gloves, breast, boots and plates on the sides of the skirt of the dress. Besides, instead of Nero's proud smile as he fought, his expression was flat and emotionless, much like mine.

I took a look at my blades. They were almost unnoticeable, but I could see some cracks in them. Her weapon is not only invisible, preventing me from reading it with structural grasp, but it is also of great power and quality if it could crack Kanshou and Bakuya with so few hits. This was going to be very complicated. At least, by the way she used it and the way the clashes were against my swords, I can deduce that her weapon is a sword.

"The servant of the class Saber." I heard Rin's dazed voice behind me. Well, that confirms my conjecture.

I dissipated the blades from my hands and traced a new pair of married swords. The process was so fast that it seemed that the swords were repaired rather than replaced by new ones. She took a posture of attack, moving her sword to her right side and keeping it tilted upwards, or at least that seemed because of how her hands were gripping the invisible hilt. I took the position I developed along with my sword style, preparing to receive her attack from the front.

About to leap towards me and resume the fight, Saber was stopped by a voice behind her.

"Stop, Saber!" This one stopped in her tracks, and because of the huge amount of prana that appeared around her restricting her, the only thing that came to my mind was that a command seal was used.

She turned with difficulty to look at the one I assumed was her master. "What are you doing Shirou!? I could defeat them now but you..." After saying that, she continued to resist the command seal to try to attack me.

"Wait, Saber, please! I don't understand anything. Since you call me master, explain something to me!"

"What do you say!? The enemy is right ahead!"

I could have attacked and knocked Saber out of action right now with no problem, but that's not something I'd like to do. I never liked killing my enemies, I just did it as a last resort. But that was not the main reason for my inaction, but the absurdity of the scene in front of me.

The boy I observed at school today, the same one who was stabbed by Lancer and later revived by Rin, He was now arguing with his newly summoned servant to tell her what all this was about and giving her a lecture about not attacking bystanders for no reason. Not only that, but he also used a command seal to stop Saber. On the other hand, Saber was trying to convince him to let her attack me because I was their enemy, and she wasn't having much success. All the seriousness of the moment faded completely.

Rin walked past me and spoke, drawing the duo's attention. "I see. A novice teacher. So far... good night, Emiya-kun." That name sounded familiar, but I didn't pay much attention. Rin's tone of voice, for some strange reason, reminded me of the malicious tone he used to mock me.

"Tohsaka?" The kid's surprise was genuine, and it looks like he knew Rin, too.

I don't know why, but my theory of the hidden plot that was going on here behind my back was gaining a lot of strength. Or maybe it's just me, my E rank luck, and my ability to get into trouble.

* * *

**And that's all for now. What did you think of this new beginning? I would like to hear your opinions and thoughts in the reviews. With this we have covered the prologue of the visual novel, or what is the same, the chapter zero and one of the Ufotable's adaptation. I tried to make it as true to the original, with changes like the first conversation between Rin and Archer or the fight between Archer or Lancer. The first change is caused directly by the differences between EMIYA and King of Fakers, while the first was trying to get Rin off his back so he could continue his plan to kill Shirou, The second still doesn't know why he was summoned and is simply going along with the flow. In the fight against Lancer, King of Fakers did fight to win, while EMIYA was just buying time until Shirou showed up.**

**Why did I write this? Apart from for King of Fakers to get Gàe Bolg, Rule Breaker, Nine Lives Blade Works, Excalibur and a look at the Babylon Gate, interactions with the caracters of Fate/Stay night, highlighting Shirou and Saber, will be interesting to write. Besides, of course, the confrontation between King of Fakers and King of Heros, from there can come something very epic.**

**By the way, the lucid memories preserved by King of Fakers are indeed the events that take place in my first fic. And also, in this chapter was shown the hidden ability of King of Fakers, EX rank density.**

**Finally, as I said, any constructive reviews is welcome, and I will try to answer any questions at the beginning of each chapter as I did in my other story.**

**With this, I say goodbye for now. Until we meet again.**


	2. Chapter 1

**We meet again people. Here I bring you the next chapter of this new story. From what I saw, the prologue was quite well received, that really pleased me. All I have to say is that there's still a little left for the plot to begin to diverge from the original. The plans of the other masters and servants are the same, what will make things change will be how King of Fakers faces them.**

**Without further ado, let the chapter begin.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any right over Type-Moon or Fate franchise.**

* * *

Things calmed down after Rin's intervention and the four of us entered the Emiya residence to talk things out peacefully. Rin took care of the damage caused by the "fight" between Shirou and Lancer. Apparently, the boy was not very good at magecraft, which surprised Rin because, according to her, he managed to summon the strongest servant. I wasn't too surprised, after all, I'm just as inept at magecraft, I'm not even able to use the "basic" spells that Rin used.

Once the repairs were completed, Rin began to explain to the boy what trouble he had gotten into, along with some intervention by Saber to exemplify something. I, on the other hand, went up to the roof to see that no other Servant tried to raid the residence, but I could hear the conversation thanks to my reinforced ears.

In the end, the boy understood more or less that it was going on, but he still found no sense in the matter of the masters killing each other. I can't blame him for that, I still can't make sense of the Holy Grail War.

In view of this, Rin decided to take him to the church in Shinto so that the war supervisor could explain things better. At that time, another problem arose. Something went wrong during the summoning of Saber, and as a result, she cannot change into spiritual form. That was very rare, any spiritual entity should be able to do it.

Shirou's solution was quite hilarious. Since he had no women's clothing in his house, he ended up giving her a dusty raincoat he found in the shed to hide her armor.

The journey to the church was silent, with Rin leading the way, Shirou beside her, Saber a few meters behind them, and I following them from the rooftops.

When we reached the gate in front of the church, Saber refused to enter. According to her, she had already been summoned at this time, and had not very good relations with the priest of this church. How she managed to maintain the memories of an earlier invocation is a mystery. I materialized on the roof to listen discreetly to what the supervisor had to say.

The explanation given by the priest was not very different from that given by Rin, although he did clarify to the boy that the masters kill each other, as it is the easiest and most efficient way to eliminate the servant. Even so, just by his voice and the tone in which he spoke, I could already say that this priest was bad news. Now I see why Rin called him "false priest."

Shirou did not seem very convinced, and then the priest changed to a much more sinister subject. The previous war, the Fourth Holy Grail War, was only ten years ago, and one of the masters touched the Grail before it was complete. This caused the so called "Fuyuki fire," the fire that devastated much of Shinto and killed hundreds of people. His story was full of suspicious holes, but the facts were true. And because Shirou was hyperventilating, I could say that he was involved with those events, and the priest knew it too.

As for me, for the second time in the night, I put on a very sinister face. Even Saber turned to look at me from where she was. Not only do I have to deal with servants who harvest souls of innocents or kill witnesses without thinking about it, but the supposed "prize" is also a weapon of mass destruction.

Change of plans. The moment the Grail manifests, I will blow it away with Merodach. I can't let one of those psychotic magus get his hands on something so dangerous. But that also means that I will have to eliminate the other servants for it to manifest, which is no easy task.

As I had heard enough, I jumped off the roof and landed at the door of the church, on the opposite side of where Saber was, and dived into my thoughts.

* * *

A few minutes later, Rin and Shirou left the church, followed by the priest. This was a man of middle age, hair and brown eyes, and he wore a dark blue cassock over a black suit and a golden cross hanging from his neck. The most remarkable thing about him was his empty eyes.

He stood at the door of the church and spoke to the master of Saber. "Rejoice boy, your wish will at last come true." His tone was filled with mockery and sarcasm.

The boy didn't pay much attention and kept walking alongside Rin. When they both passed through the gate of the fence surrounding the church, I could see that Shirou had a very serious face and was mired in his thoughts.

The first to speak was Saber, while he removed the hoodie from the raincoat. "Shirou, are you done talking?"

He turned to look into her eyes. "Yes."

"So..."

"I decided to fight as a master. Do you accept me as your master, Saber?" His voice was full of resolve.

Saber smiled and responded. "I have nothing to accept. You were my master from the beginning. I swore I would be your sword."

"I see. Well..." He clenched his fists and filled himself with determination. "I will become your master." The face he made when he said that surprised me. It was the exact same face I always put on when I was about to do something foolish to save people. It was shocking to see someone else with that kind of resolution, but I disguised it by quickly returning to my usual emotionless expression. Hopefully, no one noticed.

"I'm counting on you Saber." The boy reached out his hand to Saber, and she stared at it.

"Don't tell me a handshake is wrong?"

She finally reacted and shook his hand. "That's not it. It was just sudden and surprised me. I'll swear again. While I am here, I will be your sword."

Their conversation ended there and we set out to return home. We hadn't finished going down the hill where the church was, when Rin stopped.

"Tohsaka?"

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to come back alone from here."

"What?" He wasn't the only one surprised.

She turned to look at him. "I brought you here because you weren't my enemy yet, but now you're another master."

"I have no intention of fighting you, Tohsaka." I'm beginning to think that the boy in front of me is a mirror of my youth.

Hearing that, Rin put a hand on his face. "I knew you'd say that. And now, what's the point of bringing you here?" To be simple "acquaintances," she knew quite a lot about him.

Before I started to lose my sanity, I decided to intervene in the conversation. "Rin, if he's willing to cooperate, why don't we work together?" I spoke in a flat tone to hide my true intentions. Normally, an alliance would be unthinkable, after all, there can only be one winner in this war. But for the Grail to physically manifest, I think it will only take the soul of four or five servants. An ally like Saber will greatly facilitate that task.

The three of them looked at me in surprise, Saber being the most. Rin did not take long to answer.

"What are you saying, Archer? Why should we ally ourselves with a rookie?"

"If you don't want to, I can't force you. But then why did you help him so much?" This was really hypocritical coming from someone who always says he doesn't need any reason to help someone, but I needed to convince her.

"I only did it because I owe him a favor. Until I give it back, I won't be able to fight at ease." That was only half true, there's something else there that Rin is hiding. But I decided not to push, I had no intention of bothering her

I just raised an eyebrow and asked on another subject. "And that favor would be...?"

"He stopped Saber with one of his command seals, so if I don't hold back a little, it's gonna be unbalanced." That was a realy vague explanation.

I held my breath and Shirou answered him before I could. "You worry about strange things, Tohsaka." At least he had half a brain and also noticed.

She looked at us both with a face of frustration. "I know. What do you want me to do? I don't like to owe anything to anyone." When she finished talking, she folded her arms and looked away. I still don't understand the meaning of that reaction.

Shirou approached her with his hands inside his pants pockets. "You're a good person."

Rin turned again to look at him. "I won't hold back no matter how much you praise me."

"I know, but I'd rather we didn't become enemies. I like people like you." Upon hearing this, Rin backed back in shock, her face completely red. Another reaction I can't figure out, there was nothing weird about what Shirou told her.

All my thoughts were abruptly interrupted when I felt the presence of a Servant behind us. I turned immediately to face it and Saber did the same. The first thing I saw was a girl about ten years old with white skin and hair, red eyes, and she was wearing a purple coat that covered her completely, along with a hat and boots of the same color, and a white scarf. What the hell is wrong with this Holy Grail War? Why are all the masters I know are children?

Next to her was a muscular giant about six feet tall and dark gray skin. His hair was a black mane that waved unnaturally, and his eyes were of different color, red the right and yellow the left. He wore only a skirt made of steel plates, and in his hand he carried a huge sword of a single blade made of stone. Needless to say, this was a Servant.

"Berserker." I heard Rin's alarmed voice beside me.

The albino girl spoke to break the silence. "You are done talking." Her voice sounded angelic, but I could clearly sense murderous intentions coming from her.

"Good night, little brother. This is the second time we met like this." As she spoke, she was putting on an innocent smile. She took a few steps forward and bowed to the classic Middle Ages style.

"Nice to meet you, Rin. I'm Illya. Illyasviel von Einzbern. Einzbern rings a bell, doesn't it?"

"Einzbern..." Rin quickly understood what was going on. The Einzberns are another of the three families that founded the Holy Grail War.

But seriously, have magus fallen so low that they now send children to do their work? In my day, at least they had the decency to come and try to dissect me themselves.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed that Saber was looking at the girl with a face of regret.

Rin used her ability as a master to see the parameters of Berserker, and when she finished, she frowned.

"What a surprise. If you look only at its parameters, that thing is even better than Saber." Even limited by the small amount of prana he received from his master, Saber was still very powerful. If she had a proper master, she would be a very difficult enemy to overcome.

And to think that this Servant is even more powerful. We're going to have to go with everything to get out of this alive.

"To beat him we're going to need more than pure force."

"Archer, you're going to have to focus on your true form of combat."

Now I am faced with a dilemma. Though I was summoned as the servant Archer by my ability with the bow, my affinity is the swords, it is what I do best. That's why I even shoot swords with the bow.

"And who will protect you?"

"You can't provide cover if that thing directly charges you."

Our talk about strategy was interrupted by the girl's voice. "Enough of the chitchat, sure you like to talk. Kill them, Berserker."

Immediately, the giant released an almost inhuman roar and jumped several meters into the air to crash where the four of us were.

My body practically reacted alone and I placed myself between Rin and Shirou. I grabbed them both by their waist, reinforced my legs and jumped back several meters. Saber did the same, but she jumped in another direction. Berserker crashed into the pavement, creating a crater of considerable size, and immediately threw himself back at us.

When I landed, I released both masters carefully and prepared to trace a high rank noble phantasm. It was not necessary since Saber already appeared without the raincoat in front of us and stopped his attack with her invisible sword. It was amazing to see someone as small as Saber how to keep up with the strength of that mass of muscles.

After a few seconds of struggle, Saber used what I recognized as a prana burst and blew Bererker several meters. I hope I don't have to fight Saber soon, that prana burst was several times more powerful than mine.

Rin finally reacted and spoke to me. "Thank you for saving me, Archer. But, why did you save him too!" Even though she was yelling at me, I could tell that deep down she was grateful that I did.

"What do you mean? Is it wrong to save someone?" Both masters stayed in shock when they heard my words.

Then, Saber spoke for the first time since we left the church. "Archer, you have my thanks for saving Shirou, but I need you to give me cover fire."

I simply nodded, took a spiritual form and rushed towards the skyscrapers of the urban core. I reached the roof of the tallest building in the city, and I immediately reinforced my eyes and located Rin and the others on an esplanade near a cemetery. The fight had already begun and seemed more or less equal, although it seemed that Berserker was not affected by his enemy's sword being invisible. In fact, despite being mired in madness, he retained his ability with the sword.

Even so, Saber stood firm by repeatedly using prana burst. The problem is, because of the scarce magical energy she receives from her master, I doubt she can hold on to that for long. The other problem was the weapon of Berserker, although it was more a problem of me than of Saber. When I used structural grasp on it, I discovered it was not a noble phantasm. Rather, it was a piece of ancient rock enchanted by the Einzberns so that it could withstand clashes against noble phantasms. So, I can't get much information out of the enemy.

_"Archer, help her!"_ That was my cue. Both fighters had separated, and Saber was reassessing her opponent.

"Let's start with something soft, I need to check something." I traced my black bow on my left hand and a sword noble phantasm rank D on my right hand. I altered it to make it aerodynamic, loaded it into the bow, filled it with prana until I turned it into a broken phantasm and shot it. The whole process just took me a few moments, and I repeated it several times to shoot about six noble phantasms, all pointing to vital areas of Berserker's body.

The "arrows" crossed the distance in seconds and impacted all on the target. Berserker did not even bother to move. The swords exploded on impact, covering the giant with smoke and traces of prana.

"Tsk" Once the smoke spread, I could see that Berserker was unharmed. As I feared, if his noble phantasm is not a weapon, the next most likely is a defensive noble phantasm.

The fight resumed seconds later. Now, Berserker was pushing Saber much harder and faster than before. The fight went from being an exchange equal to Saber fighting desperately to keep up. With every stroke of Berserker that Saber stopped, she was flying out like a rag doll.

Through my bond with Rin, I could feel her anxiety and despair grow. Not surprisingly, the chances of Saber winning had been drastically reduced, and my attacks were apparently ineffective against the enemy.

At that moment, Rin pulled a few gems out of a pocket of her coat and ran into Berserker. When she was about five yards away, she threw them over the gray giant. These broke, releasing the stored prana inside and creating a dome that locked and restricted the servant, leaving his back vulnerable for a few moments.

_"Archer!"_ when I received the order from Rin, Redeemer was already altered and loaded into my bow. I overloaded the noble Phantasm with prana to break it, and its evil aura flooded the roof completely. My intention with this was to determine if that thing had the "monster" feature.

"Redeemer!" I let go of the rope and the cursed sword went off at a higher speed than the sound, leaving an orange trail in its wake. The proyectile pierced the barrier enclosing Berserker and impacted on his unprotected back, causing a sizeable explosion. If the enemy servant is considered a monster conceptually, he will either die instantly or be practically crippled. If not, I will be able to check the damage that can be done by a C rank broken phantasm.

The explosion that Redeemer caused, although not as powerful as that of Hrunting or Caladbolg II, was still something to keep in mind. The three masters were shot down backwards, and Saber had to get away from Berserker.

The smoke cleared, revealing Berserker in the middle of a crater a little bigger than the one he caused earlier, and practically unharmed. His back was bleeding from some wounds, but nothing a servant couldn't regenerate in a few minutes. Well, that proved that Berserker is not a monster, at least conceptually.

Rin's morale waned further when she saw that the enemy came almost unharmed from such an attack, but Saber did understand the true implications of the outcome of my attack. That thing wasn't totally untouchable, there was still some chance to beat it.

Saber looked around, and noticed a graveyard near where they were fighting. It didn't take me long to understand what their plan was. It was simple, but I doubt that Berserker in his poor state of mind even realizes he's being led into a trap.

Berserker charged again against Saber, and this one began to lead him to the cemetery while avoiding his bestial attacks. They both ended up going into a small forest, and I lost track of them. The girl named Illya followed them calmly, and Rin, after saying something to Shirou, went after her. The master of Saber stood there for a few moments, until he hardened his resolve and went after them as well.

I couldn't stay behind either. Although the master of Berserker is a little girl, her prana reserves must be enormous if she can supply a servant so powerful without showing any signs of tiredness. Although I know Rin can defend herself against another master, I can't let her go alone. I trust that Saber can stand it alone until I've made sure Rin's okay.

I started jumping from rooftop to rooftop to look for a point of view from where I could visualize the fight between Rin and Illya. When I landed on top of a tow truck, I saw a clearing in the forest where both masters were, and the situation in which Rin was found was not very good.

The barrier that Rin had created with his gems had just been shattered by a familiar of Illya in the form of a sword, and another sword familiar was about to be shot at Rin. Quickly, I traced a pair of nameless E rank noble phantasm and shot them successively. The first struck the familiar in the middle of its trajectory, deflecting it, and the second struck it in its center, destroying it completely.

The girl turned in surprise to look in my direction, and Rin took advantage of her distraction to escape into the forest. As she regained her breath, I spoke to her through our bond.

"_Are you all right, Rin?_"

_"Yes, thank you, Archer. I really thought I wouldn't get out of that. Where's Illyasviel?"_

_"I'm sorry, but I don't see very well in that area. I can perceive you through our bond, but I can't perceive the other masters."_

_"Sure. Anyway, that girl is a monster. It is not normal that she can create familiars with one hair."_

_"It seems so. I'm not very inclined to kill a child, however much a master I may be, but I guess that plan is also not viable given her power. Therefore..."_

_"We will have to rely on Saber. You keep watching the fight from afar. I will meet with Saber."_

_"Understood. But remember to retire before it's too late."_

_"Yes, yes. By the way, Acher, that proyectile you used earlier, that was your best shot?"_

_"No, I was just testing his endurance. You could say it was "medium ammo". I still have a few aces up my sleeve."_

_"Then I'll leave it to your discretion, Archer."_

After that last answer, Rin went in the direction of the explosions, caused by the clash between Saber and Berserker, and I lost sight of her. I continued to look for a place from which I had a full view of the battle.

I found it in a skyscraper with a helipad on its roof. I could see that the fight was now in favor of Saber. She was using a tactic of hitting and running, taking advantage of the obstacles in the cemetery where they were found as coverages to avoid Berserker attacks. The body of the enemy servant was full of cuts, but he kept fighting like it was nothing.

Berseker's master was watching the fight at the top of a hill, while Rin and Shirou had arrived from the opposite side of the cemetery.

Finally, Saber realized that her strategy was not working, so she decided to face Berserker head on with a final attack. After devoting a few words to him, Saber hurled herself at the grey giant with a huge prana burst that destroyed the ground on which she stood. The servant of madness responded by stamping his sword against the ground, releasing an immense shock wave and debris in the direction of Saber. She did not even hesitate and went through the Berserker attack, receiving a bleeding wound to the right side of her head.

When she crossed the debris, Saber threw a thrust with her invisible sword pointed at Berserker's heart. Taking everyone by surprise, Bererker grabbed the invisible sword with his left hand, stopping it within inches of piercing his chest, and launched a counterattack with his sword in his free hand. Then, Saber shouted and the air covering her blade burst forth with enormous pressure, dividing the torso of Berserker from the left side of his neck to his waist. He died on the spot.

But what struck me most was the sword of Saber. I could only see it for a few seconds before it was covered again by invisible air, but it was enough for me to use structural grasp on it. It was a golden sword about ninety centimetres long, with a guard slightly curved upwards and blue decorations above it. It was a divine construction, forged by the world and therefore had scriptures in the language of the Fae. His name was Excalibur, the sword of promised victory, the pinnacle of all sacred swords, and the last noble phantasm forged by the world. Its beauty was immense, practically calling it pretty was like insulting it. But what was most striking was that his concept was very similar to that of my "sword," the nameless sword of promised salvation.

"So Saber is King Arthur. That explains why she is so powerful... wait, King Arthur is a woman!"? It happened to me when I met Nero, but to think that King Arthur, or should I call her Arturia?, also had his gender confused, felt just as surreal as that time. It is not enough that her master seems in a disturbing way to me, but that she also has a huge resemblance to one of the persons who had the most impact on my life... and I could not save.

My thoughts about conspiracies, paranoia and depressing memories were interrupted when I noticed Berserker's corpse. It was already strange that it had not yet dissolved into prana flecks, but when the hole in his chest started to turn out red energy, I knew something was wrong.

Indeed, Berserker's torso began to regenerate, not as quickly as the dead apostles did, but at considerable speed. To make matters worse, the master of Saber was getting dangerously close to where the two servants were. I immediately warned Rin through our link.

_"Rin, you have to get out of there immediately! That thing is regenerating!"_

_"What!"_

_"We're out of time. Take cover! I'll use one of the aces on the sleeve I told you about."_

I cut the link and traced an ordinary sword. I altered it and shot it at the head of Berserker. It broke harmlessly when it hit Berserker, but more than an attack, my intention was to send a signal to Saber and his master.

By that point, Saber had already figured out what was going on and was trying to warn her master. Both saw the "arrow" impact and turned to look in the direction it came from, with expressions of interrogation. At least they got the idea that I can shoot that place.

I had to discard my original plan to use Caladbolg II, although with that I could easily pierce Berserker's defenses, there was no time for Shirou and Saber to leave the blast radius. With that in mind, I traced Durandal and started altering it so I could shoot it. The process was slower than usual since I had never used this sword as a projectile, but it was perfect for this situation. Although its power was similar to that of Caladbolg, Durandal's range was shorter.

Shirou seemed to react to this, turned and ran towards Saber. He took her hand and took she with him as he ran away from Berserker. That would have surprised me if one was focused on Berserker.

_"I am the bone of my sword."_

I reinforced the projection and filled it with prana to activate one of its miracles. Although Shirou and Saber were not yet covered, Berseker was already fully regenerated, so I could not wait any longer. After I checked that Rin was covered, I let go of the rope.

"Durandal break!"

I activated one of the miracles just at the moment of firing the sword, and it crossed the night sky wrapped in a golden beam of light. Within moments, the projectile was already a few meters from Berserker's chest. He tried to strike it with his stone sword to deflect it, but was repelled by the energy surrounding the sword.

Durandal pierced his chest, and at once, all the energy of the miracle was released, burning all the internal organs of the servant of madness. The force of the sword pushed the servant's body along with it, striking the ground and creating a light wave that destroyed the ground around Berserker and raised an enormous amount of debris.

It was impossible for him to come out of it alive. The only being able to do that I knew was Primate Murder, and that being was on a completely different level than the servants. The giant's body was in the middle of the crater caused by Durandal's release of power, totally scorched and with smoke coming out of the hole in his chest. There was no doubt, he was dead.

With a mental order, Durandal dissipated. I didn't want anyone to see it, although being mistaken for Roland might be beneficial, I'd have to give Rin a lot of explanations. And magus never reacted very well to discovering my tracing. Besides, now that I think about it, if the other servants find out that I shoot swords, they might realize who I am very quickly.

Moments later, Berserker began to regenerate again and rose as if nothing had happened. He was undoubtedly dead, twice, so the only thing that can explain this was that his noble phantasm allowed him to resurrect. Now that's broken.

Illya approached his servant and began to talk to Rin. After that, she climbed up to Berserker's shoulder and they both left. That was strange, if she had wanted, she could have tried to kill my master at that time.

_"Rin, do you read me? What happened with Berserker and his master?"_ When she heard me, she came out of her stupor.

_"According to the girl, Illyasviel, she became interested in you and decided to leave us for now."_

_"Huh?"_ That was the only thing I could answer.

_"Anyway, get back here, Archer. Something's wrong with Shirou."_

_"Got it."_ I dissipated my bow and headed for its location at maximum speed.

* * *

What I found when I got there was an unconscious Shirou with blood coming out of his mouth, and Rin and Saber trying to plug the wounds on his back. I approached them and asked them to inform me of the situation.

"What happened to him?"

The one who answered me was Rin. "He was hit by some debris that came out of the shock of your noble phantasm." Is that so? Seeing as how Saber is almost unharmed, I would say that he protected her with his body. Of course, I didn't say that out loud and kept it to myself.

"Archer, do you happen to have any method of closing his wounds?"

"I'm sorry, but no. You should know by now, Rin, magecraft is not my specialty. Anyway, it's best to take him home as soon as possible. There we can treat him better, and we'll keep some civilian from seeing us." Rin nodded in comprehension, and I turned to speak to a totally obsessed Saber trying to treat her master.

"Saber, you take your master, I'll take Rin. We'll go through the rooftops, when we get there better." My voice pulled her out of her stupor and she did what I told her.

After a few minutes of travel, we arrived at the Emiya residence without any incident. Rin found a first aid kit in the bathroom and immediately treated the wounds properly.

My experience of healing wounds in a "mundane" way was not the most extensive, I never had to treat anything very serious and it was always my wounds that I treated. Still, apparently, Saber had even less experience on that subject, and Rin was more or less on the same level as me, so it was her and me who did most of it.

What we didn't expect was that Shirou's wounds would close by themselves at an inexplicably fast pace. Not at the level of a dead apostle, but it was impressive for a normal human. Saber and Rin attributed it to Shirou using curing magecraft unconsciously, but it was still a fairly lame explanation. The healing magecraft is complex, if the boy did not know how to fix a broken glass, which in the words of Rin, was something basic, it was very rare that he could do that.

Rin and I spent the night there. She went to sleep when Shirou was finally in a stable condition, and Saber did the same so she could regain the energy she spent in the fight against Berserker.

I stayed awake to control Shirou and see that no other Servant attacked. The boy was hurt because of me, so I had to take responsibility. Meanwhile, I got to thinking about the real identity of Berserker. I analyzed much more thoroughly the plane of his stone sword that had been stored inside the Unlimited Blade Works, and I found something interesting.

The sword had associated one of the techniques of its carrier, Nine Lives: Shooting the hundred heads. There is only one heroic spirit to which this technique can belong, and combined with the ability to resurrect, I have no doubt. The identity of Berserker was Heracles, the greatest and most famous hero of Greece who completed the twelve tasks entrusted by the gods.

This is getting more and more complicated. Two very famous demigods in their respective countries, and the greatest king of Britain whose legend eclipsed mine. If the other servants are of the same quality, this Holy Grail War could be one of the most complicated situations I have ever faced. I'm going to have to start thinking about using high rank noble phantasms much more frequently.

The rest of the night passed peacefully and Shirou was almost completely healed by daylight. Luckily, there was no school today, so there was no problem because both teenagers missed classes.

I woke up my master early as she asked me to. That took longer than I expected, Rin fell asleep even while dressing and I had to go into the room to wake her up again. When her brain reacted, she started yelling at me for seeing her in her underwear and I had to get out of there before Rin started shooting Gandrs at me. It was a really complicated situation, and I tried so hard not to see anything.

When Rin was already presentable, we found Saber just awake. She and Rin talked about the problem of Saber to take spiritual form, and in the end I ended up having to go to the Tohsaka residence to bring normal clothes for Saber. At least, thanks to structural grasp, I was able to bring a set of her size on the first trip and I didn't have to do any more. Saber ended up wearing a white blouse with a blue ribbon tied around her neck, a long blue skirt reaching a little below her knees, a few black meadows and tall brown boots.

After that, Rin insisted on waiting until Shirou woke up, and Saber went to the kendo dojo to meditate. With nothing to do in the meantime, I ended up waiting in the dining room. When I saw the apparatus called "television", I became curious and used structural grasp to know how it worked. I didn't understand much, but I did find out that it was lit by pressing one of the buttons.

I pressed it and the screen started showing images. Apparently, it was the news show, and there was a guy talking with a picture of a building, which I recognized was Shinto, in the background. The man was talking about an alleged "gas leak" that left all the workers unconscious inside the building.

Suspicious. When we visited Shinto, I didn't see many gas deposits that could cause that, and apparently it wasn't the first time something like this happened this week. It may be a coincidence, but experience has taught me that coincidences happen very rarely. I will discuss it with Rin later.

I turned off the TV and left the room in spiritual form to look for Rin. I found her saying goodbye to an already awake Shirou, and from what I heard, Rin was lecturing him that they were now enemies. When she went down the aisles, I talked to her.

"Are you finally going to home, Rin?"

"I couldn't leave with empty hands. I have to make amends for my mistakes."

"So you've decided to be an enemy of the master of Saber."

"I only helped him because I wanted to return a favor. Now that I have returned it to him, there is no reason for me to help him again."

"If that is your decision, I will respect it, master."

* * *

We went back to Rin's for her breakfast and plan our next move. I told her what I had seen about "gas leaks," and she agreed it was a very suspicious thing. Since she had nothing planned to do today, we went to investigate.

When we got to the doors of the building I had seen on the news, these were blocked by police tape. But, strangely, there was no one watching the place.

"They're weak, but I can sense traces of prana. So, as we suspected, it wasn't just a gas leak. Why did they involve people who had nothing to do with this?" As she said that, Rin was clenching his fists. I shared the same feelings she did.

"Let's go inside, the sooner we get this over with, the less people trapped will suffer." I said in a serious tone.

"You're right." That said, we went through the tapes carefully so we didn't break them and entered the building. Doors were open, so I didn't have to force them.

The reception was empty, as expected, so we went up to the first floor. Just up the hall we met a couple of skeletal dogs, familiars of a magus. Rin raised her right hand with her fingers stretched pointing at them, and fired two red prana shells with his black center, the Gandr curse. These struck both familiar and destroyed them before they realized it was happening.

"Dragon tooth warriors." I commented by acknowledging what kind of familiar they were.

"Do you know them?" Rin asked me.

"I have some experience with them."

Without further ado, we opened the door to the first office. The interior was completely closed and saturated with a purple gas, and all the workers inside were unconscious as the news said.

"What is this incense?" Rin asked as she covered her nose with her arm.

"I don't know, but from what I see, it's sucking the souls of the people present. It seems that this is the work of a servant or a master."

"I'll open the windows, you stay at the door and watch for more of those things coming."

I nodded and stood at the door. Not a minute passed when I heard a sound of several steps at the end of the hall. I turned to see what it was about, and I saw about six dragon tooth warriors, this time with a humanoid form, running towards me.

The quickest and most efficient way to get rid of them would be to throw swords at them directly, but I'd like to keep that resource hidden for now. If there are relatives here, the magus is probably monitoring the place. I can't afford to reveal my abilities to an enemy I don't even know.

"Trace on." I whispered my aria so that it was inaudible to everyone but myself and traced my bow along with a normal sword. For this task, that would suffice. I altered the sword and shot it into the first skeleton, piercing its head. I repeated the process at high speed, taking out the remaining skeletons. From another's point of view, it would appear that the arrows came out almost in a row, as if using a machine gun instead of a bow.

By the time I dissipated my bow, Rin left the office. "That should do it."

With the windows already open, the gas was coming out of the room little by little. In less than an hour the place would already be clean.

"From what I see, you had company."

"Yeah, looks like the building's infested with familiars, but nothing we can't deal with."

"Well, Archer. We're gonna clean up the whole building." That being said, we're headed to the next office.

We spent all day clearing the incense from the rooms and destroying the familiars we found. Once we were done, Rin made an anonymous call to the authorities with one of the phones in the building, warning that the "gas" had already dissipated.

We, of course, left the scene and stood watching from the roof of a nearby building. The police and ambulances arrived quickly and began to remove unconscious victims and take them to the hospital.

Fortunately, the perpetrator did not return to try anything, and the evacuation of the victims proceeded without any inconvenience. When it was over, we both stood on the roof looking in the direction of Mount Enzo.

"The stolen energy went to the mountain." Mentioned Rin with a serious face.

"Yes. Considering the method used and the relatives, it is most likely the work of the servant Caster. A powerful magus who has established his territory in Ryuudouji Temple. Things are getting quite complicated."

"Do you think? I thought you trusted your abilities"

"And that hasn't changed. But with such a wide net, Caster must have seen yesterday's fight, and I used one of my most powerful weapons. That an enemy we know nothing about already has information about us puts us at a disadvantage." The plan implemented by Ortenrosse would be a good example of this.

"That's the truth. But, like you just said, yesterday you used one of your most powerful weapons, so you still have more aces up your sleeve, right?"

"You seem to have caught me. You're right, I haven't shown it all yet. Anyway, Rin, what do you plan to do with Caster?"

"Let's go after him. You can still feel your presence, can't you? Let's finish it before it hides in Ryuudouji Temple."

"That would be unwise. We have not yet fully recovered from yesterday's fights. Besides, the school issue is still pending."

"We can handle both at once. By day we will deal with the delimited field, and at night we can chase Caster."

"Well, that's a good course of action. But that raises another question, what will you do when you meet Emiya Shirou again and he doesn't want to fight you?"

Rin kept quiet for a few moments, until she turned and replied with a cold look. "I will kill him. I owe nothing to anyone who does not understand his position."

I could not help but sigh. What a dishonest master with her true feelings I have.

* * *

**And that's all so far. With this we have covered the introduction of Shirou and Saber to war, the fight against Berserker, and the discovery of Caster's machinations. King of Fakers already has a goal, very different from that of EMIYA, and from there the differences begin to arise. Also, King of Fakers begins to realize the huge resemblance between him and Shirou, and this one is reacting to King of Fakers' magecraft. The explanation of this will be given by Finn himself when the plot came to that point. But anyway, it does not change much with respect to the case with EMIYA.**

**On other less serious issues, one can see a "density duel" between Shirou and Archer, although there has not yet been a direct interaction between them. And yes, "yorokobe shounen" had to appear, otherwise you can't say this a Fate/Stay Nigth route.**

**Finally, as always, I would like to know your opinions, reviews and questions about the chapter.**

**With this I say goodbye, until we meet again.**


	3. Chapter 2

**We meet again people. Here I bring you the next chapter of this story. As always, I appreciate the supportive reviews, the favs and Follows, it motivates me to keep writing. For this chapter, I bring you something you could say is new in my stories. If I remember correctly, the only scene I've written in the third person so far was after Finn died. So far I have omitted the scenes of Shirou and Saber as they were equal to the original ones, but now that things are already starting to change, it is necessary to show what is happening with the other characters when King of Fakers is not present.**

**Without further ado, let the chapter begin.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any right over Type-Moon or Fate franchise.**

* * *

The day after dealing with the "gas leak," Rin and I went to school as agreed. She said that the master of Saber would not attend classes because he is not yet fully recovered and cannot bring his servant. So, we could work on disrupting the school bounded field without having to worry about fighting him.

Her assumption failed spectacularly.

We were both going up the stairs to get to the floor where Rin's classroom was, while we were talking through our link.

_"So, Rin, what should I do while you're in class?"_

_"Well, you could go looking for more magical circles that provide more power to the bounded field, or you could go preparing the ground for a future fight. As long as you do it discreetly, there is no problem."_

_"Since the second option is not something I'm good at, I'll go with the first."_

The conversation was interrupted by a voice behind us, when we were already on the floor of Rin's class.

"Hello!"

We turned to see who it was, and we found Emiya Shirou smiling and raising his right arm as a greeting.

The face Rin put on at the time was a mixture of surprise, disbelief and frustration. I have to admit, it was pretty funny, and I had to hold back my laughter so I wouldn't give up my presence.

The boy saw that Rin did not react to his greeting, and put a question mark on his face. "What is it? Do I have something on my face?"

Hearing that, Rin's frustration increased even more. She turned and went to her class without saying anything, leaving the boy standing there.

When Rin sat on her desk and calmed down again, she spoke to me again through our bond.

_"Archer, change of plans. You can go investigate Caster's movements, I'll deal with the master of Saber."_

_"Are you sure you want me to leave you alone?"_

_"Do you doubt that I can defeat him, Archer?"_

_"No. But with an unknown servant roaming the place, it can be dangerous for me to stray too far."_

_"I will call you next to me with a command seal if the worst comes to pass. Anyway, I will give him one last chance. If he leaves school before the place is empty, I'll leave him alone and we'll stick to the original plan."_

_"Okay. We'll meet at your house. Take care of yourself, Rin."_

_"You don't have to say goodbye like this is the last time we go to see each other, silly." _More than for her, I said it with me in mind. During my life, the number of times I nearly kicked the bucket on the battlefield is practically countless.

Silently, I went out the window and headed to Mount Enzo.

I spent the afternoon gathering information. As far as I could tell, there was no other "gas leak," so it looks like Caster hasn't come out of hiding. Mount Enzo itself was already a strategic position, because there passes one of the main ley lines of the city. A Caster servant can easily take advantage of the enormous amount of mana in place to mount an almost impregnable workshop. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole Holy Grail setup is located there.

If we add to that that there is a huge barrier around the mountain that prevents the heroic spirits from accessing otherwise than the entrance to the temple, you have the perfect base of operations.

I have experience breaking into magus' workshops, but I've never faced anything so complex. The ideal would be to shoot a Broken Phantasm and blow the place up along with the servant, but the problem is that there are innocent people living there. I don't know if the monks in the temple are hypnotized or not, but they're still hostages.

That raises another question, why did he not suck the souls of the temple inhabitants, as he is doing with the other residents of the city?

Does that mean that the temple monks are a Magus mafia who are participating in the war? No, that is not possible. I doubt Rin missed anything that big. But the possibility that Caster's master is one of the inhabitants of the temple remains feasible.

I'll need to investigate this much more thoroughly. This feels nostalgic in some way.

On the other hand, I did not receive any notice from Rin all afternoon, so I must assume that nothing dangerous has happened to her. Now, I don't know if she've met Emiya Shirou, although if he behaves like me, surely she did.

I really doubt Rin killed him, you don't help someone without getting something in return for it, unless you're just as distorted as I am. I don't know exactly what kind of relationship those two have, but I'm sure they're more than "acquaintances". In the worst case scenario, she may have removed his command seals, but seeing that the stream of prana I receive from Rin did not change at all, I don't think that she is providing prana to Saber at this time.

I guess I'll have to go back to the Tohsaka residence to find out.

* * *

When I arrived and entered the dining room, the room in which I landed when I was summoned, I found Rin and Shirou talking while they were having tea.

I stood there with a stupid face, while my brain finished processing the scene in front of me. I knew she wasn't going to kill him, but that in less than 24 hours she went from considering him an enemy to bringing him home to treat his arm, drink tea and talk, it's... baffling.

Fortunately, I was in spiritual form and they did not see me. After putting myself back together, I heard the end of their conversation in silence. They were talking about the magus inheritance system and crest, and apparently Shirou's father died before he could finish his magecraft training.

Rin ended up giving an explanation of why she did not consider Shirou's father not a magus, although she seemed to be speaking to herself and at the same time remembering something not very pleasant. Also, the similarities between Shirou's father and mine were also somewhat disturbing.

When the boy finally left, I materialized next to Rin. "It seems I'm not the only one who has a lot to say."

She screamed and leapt back. "Woah! Archer don't scare me like that!" Her reaction was pretty good.

"Anyway, how much did you hear?"

"I came by the end, by the part of the magus inheritance." Hearing me, she sighed a little disappointed.

"Then I will have to tell you everything that happened from the beginning. In short, I agreed to a ceasefire with the master of Saber. Then I'll tell you the details, for now I want you to keep an eye on him as he comes home."

"So you actually care about him." By the time I realized it, I had already said that out of the blue.

Her cheeks turned red and she looked away. "Of course not! It would simply be a waste if, after agreeing to work together, something happened to him and he could not be of any use to me." Yeah, looks like I hit the spot.

"Whatever you say, master." After saying that, I went back into spiritual form and followed the boy's trail.

We were already in the district of the traditional buildings, where the Emiya residence was. I had followed the boy closely, looking at him with curiosity. Everything I had seen of his behavior and personality was almost identical to mine when I was young, the time when I began my journey to save them all. I just had to check one thing: is he as distorted as I am?

He seemed to notice my look and turned his head to look in my direction sometimes, but he said nothing.

So far, we've been lucky not to run into anyone along the way. Explain why the right sleeve of his uniform jacket was filled with blood, would be quite uncomfortable.

When we were near his house, he stopped. "This is far enough."

I guess this was inevitable, but, uh, this might be my chance to talk directly to him. I materialized a few meters from him and became a bit clueless.

"So you noticed me. Although hiding my presence is not one of my strengths, it is not bad at all."

He turned to look me in the eye and asked me a bit suspicious. "Do you have any business with me, Archer?"

"Well, I only escorted you because my master ordered it. But, this may be a chance to get to know us better." I dropped my proposal without further ado. Let's see how this goes.

"Get to know me? Why would you want to know me?"

"Although my master seems to have known you for a long time, I don't. I would like to know more about the person I'm going to fight with from now on."

"So who should you know best wouldn't be Saber?"

"That may be true, but servants are no more than familiars of the master. She will do nothing against your orders as long as you have the command seals. Therefore, knowing the teacher is the best option."

He stared at me with a suspicious face. Expectably, my "explanation" had several holes. If the servants were only extensions of the master, I would not be here acting on my own in the first place. After a few moments, the boy answered me quite annoyed.

"Saber is not just a familiar, she is a human. She refuses the work she does not want to do, and since she came here she made her own decisions!"

I think I screwed up, I touched a sensitive spot for him. But, not distinguishing Saber from the others, it's an indicator that he's a little distorted. Or maybe it's just because he's not a proper magus.

I kept my poker face and kept pushing. "So, if you two make the decisions separately, more reason to know you too. Don't you think?"

"Hmm, you have a point there. Fine, what do you want to know about me, Acher?" It's time to ask the million dollar question.

"Why are you fighting, Emiya Shirou?"

Hearing my question, he stared at me bewildered. "What do you mean?"

"I saw the change in you since you left the church. At first you were full of doubts, and you found no sense in the Holy Grail War. But when you walked out the door of the church, you were completely determined to fight like a teacher. I doubt that priest's words would convince you, you found your resolve in something else. Tell me, Emiya Shirou, why did you decide to fight in this pointless bloodbath?"

After looking into our eyes, the boy finally responded. "I decided to fight... to protect the innocent people who live in this city. So that no other master with evil intentions may obtain the Holy Grail, and so that the tragedy of ten years ago will not be repeated." With every word he said, his determination grew stronger, and he ended up looking at me with some very familiar ones.

For a few moments, the image of Shirou before me, was replaced by that of a young man on that night with a full moon. "_I want to dedicate my life to helping and saving people, I want to be a hero so that hell can't happen again._"

We were silent for a while. The tension in the environment could be cut with a knife. A little smile stuck in my lips, and I finally responded to his resolve.

"That's... that's a good reason to fight. Now I know you're someone trustworthy." I turned to go back. With this, there was nothing left to check.

Before I entered into spiritual form, I was stopped by his voice. "Wait, Archer! Now that I've told you my reason for fighting, wouldn't it be fair for you to tell me yours?"

Well, since he was sincere, I suppose it won't hurt that I, too, be sincere. "I have no desire that I want the Grail to come true. But, you might say, my goal will always be to save all."

That said, I went into spiritual form and left the place.

That night, Rin told me what happened in high school and I told her my observations about Caster. As I assumed, Saber's master did not leave the school. Apparently, he was investigating the disappearance of a student. Rin decided to fight him, but they were interrupted by the scream of a student who was attacked by the Rider servant. When they came to her rescue, the servant attacked them and Shirou protected Rin, obtaining the wound on his arm.

In the end they managed to repel the servant, and as Rin said she owed the boy another favor, she ended up dragging him home to treat his wound. Just before I arrived, she proposed a ceasefire to look for the other master who was hiding in the school, and he agreed.

In conclusion, I will never leave Rin alone in school, and she finally gave in to her true feelings.

* * *

The following day passed without any notable event. Shirou joined our search for magical circles throughout the school, and turned out to be very helpful as he was quite sensitive to that sort of thing. Other than that, he and Rin just talked about why Rin didn't noticed that Shirou was a magus.

By sundown, we both said goodbye and went home. After dinner, Rin and I agreed that she would rest tonight, as we were almost certain that tomorrow the teacher who put the delimited field in the school will make his move.

I, with nothing to do during the night, went to monitor Mount Enzo.

The first new thing I noticed when I arrived at my regular watch post was a servant guarding the entrance to the temple. The guy had long blue hair, tied in a ponytail behind his head, and his eyes were the same color. He was wearing a blue and lilac kimono, and on his back was a long katana tucked into its holster. At first glance, he looked like a simple samurai, and he must have been the servant Assassin, since he's the only one we haven't met besides Caster, and I doubt he's Caster.

If the temple was already an exceptional fortress, with the masters of Assassin and Caster allied, the bunker builded there is impenetrable. They just have to entrench themselves until Caster steals enough energy to be almost invincible, and there won't be anyone to stop them.

I'll have to get the monks out of there somehow and shoot a Caladbolg II to blow up the joint they have up there. The question is, how?

While I was thinking about it, my peripheral vision caught something that caught my eye. Walking through the lonely streets of Miyama City, there stood the master of Saber. My first thought was that he was patrolling for other servants, but then I remembered that Saber could not change into spiritual form. What does the boy do walking alone at this hour of the night without being accompanied by his servant? Does he want to be killed?

I reinforced my eyes to observe him better. Shirou was wearing a simple white shirt with blue sleeves and blue jeans. That wouldn't be weird, if we weren't in the middle of winter. Also, the other night it was at the same temperature and this one was wearing a jacket.

But, the weirdest thing was that he would walk with his eyes closed, and he would turn the corners and respect the traffic lights without any problems. Even though he've lived here his whole life, that's completely impossible. Here's something that doesn't add up.

I set out to follow him more closely and then I saw what was going on. Around his entire body, I could see several threads made of prana, which were moving Shirou's sleeping body. And to make matters worse, they were taking him to Ryuudouji Temple, so Caster must be the one behind this.

I realized that too late, and now Shirou was already climbing the stairs leading to the temple. With Assassin so close, I can no longer simply destroy the threads with "arrows."

"Tsk, that complicates things even further." If they steal Shirou's command seals, then we really are gonna be screwed.

I really have no choice but to get rid of the samurai before I can go rescue him.

I was about to trace Hrunting, when suddenly, Saber appeared running in the direction of the temple. She climbed the stairs and stood in the middle to face Assassin. They both began to speak, and Assassin drew his katana. The fight was already imminent, and this was the opportunity I needed.

I entered in spiritual form and ran at full speed with my legs reinforced. With a great leap, I passed over both servants and reached the courtyard of the temple. I noticed that Assassin looked at me sideways, but did nothing else.

As soon as I landed, I heard a cry of pain coming from the temple's backyard. I immediately jumped to the roof of the temple and from there I saw a hooded woman doing something to Shirou's hand in which he had the command seals. You didn't have to be smart enough to know that this woman was Caster, and that she was taking the command seals from Shirou.

The next instant, the twisted swords were already falling all over the place, shattering the threads that held the master of Saber away from him.

"Looks like I made in time, that was really close." I said that out loud to call the anthem of both of you.

They both turned to look at me, and Shirou was the first to speak. "Archer!? What are you doing here?"

With a mental order, I dissipated my bow and all the swords I fired. After doing so, I jumped off the roof and landed between Shirou and Caster.

"I came to save you, of course. We're allies, aren't we? But how do you feel anyway? With Caster's threads destroyed, you should be able to move again."

As he heard me, he moved his right arm, still raised forward, to prove it. "Oh, you're right."

"I would tell you to leave here while I take care of her, but that would not be advisable. You could end up stepping on some trap without realizing it."

At the end of my sentence, Caster's reaction came, albeit a little late. "Archer!? What is that idiot Assassin doing!?"

"Assassin is facing Saber, so he was a little busy when I arrived. In fact, it is commendable that a servant of the weakest class gives Saber a fight."

Caster's tantrum stopped, and she took a cold attitude again. "Nonsense. If he could not stop you, he cannot be called a heroic spirit. He is not good enough to be summoned as a master swordsman." That would have hurt, if I had any pride. But as that is not the case, I kept looking at her with a stoic expression.

"The way you talk, it seems your masters are collaborating."

" They are collaborating?" I heard Shirou's voice behind me.

"Yes. Assassin protects the door of the temple, and Caster protects the interior. Clearly these two are collaborating. It's not a strange thing, you too joined with Rin."

Shirou nodded in understanding, and Caster laughed.

"Do you think I collaborate with that dog? Assassin is but my pawn."

Before that statement I raised an eyebrow. "Your pawn?"

"Exactly. To begin with, he has no teacher." That can only mean one thing.

"So you broke the rules and summoned a servant, right?"

"What is the problem with a magus like me summoing a servant?"

The realization struck Shirou at that time. "Caster summoned Assassin. A servant summoned another servant?"

"The samurai at the door was not summoned by a true master chosen by the Grail, so it is not the original Assassin. You summoned Assassin to guard the gate, you fortified yourself in this place, and from here you gather souls of innocent people. You don't participate in the fights and you watch them with the eyes that you positioned around the city. I guess as a magus, you had to come up with a plan to deal with the high magical resistance of the three knight classes. But did you do all this on your own?" That was a long speech, but while I was there, I took the opportunity to explain the situation to the master of Saber.

"What are you basing that on?"

"The masters are also magus. Those guys respect their rules to the letter, so I doubt if your master would be very happy to break them. But, on the other hand, it would not be unusual for a magus that summoned a much more powerful magus to become a mere puppet."

Caster remained silent for a few moments, but I could not see well her expression because of her hood. "It is very easy to win the Holy Grail War. I do what I do thinking after the war."

"So it's easy to beat us, huh. Coming from someone who's hiding herself here and just stealing souls of innocents, that doesn't have much credibility."

"Heh, you won't even be able to scratch me here." She was really pushing my buttons. There are few things that annoy me, and one of them is the people who think of others as simple tools for their purpose. I mean, the average magus. And this woman fits that description perfectly.

"I wasn't planning on facing you so soon, but this is a unique opportunity to end your twisted plans."

We were both completely silent, in an environment full of hostility. I spread my legs and bent my torso forward in preparation for throwing myself at her. At the same time, I stretched my arms sideways and prepared my hands to grab the pair of Kanshou and Bakuya I was going to trace.

Caster stood still, making no movement and with her arms under her robe. After a few moments that seemed minutes watching us, Caster pulled her right arm out of her robe and materialized a long staff with a circle at its tip, with which she began to perform a spell. At the same time, the married swords appeared in my hands, and with my legs already reinforced, I crossed the distance between us in an instant, and positioned myself on her back.

I made a horizontal cut on her back with Kanshou in reverse grip. It was superficial, but it served to interrupt the mystery she was preparing, which would impact on Shirou the self no longer being there. Then I threw another cut with Bakuya, this time descending, and with it I damaged Caster's spine.

With her legs disabled, the servant in front of me collapsed on the ground and dissipated into prana flecks. This last confirmed my thoughts.

"I guess taking the first hit was never my thing."

"That's a shame, Archer." Caster's voice returned to the scene, coming from several meters above us.

I raised my head to look in the direction of the voice, and I saw Caster floating in the air above where she was before. The cloak of her robe was stretched out behind her, resembling a pair of wings, and in front of Caster were several magical purple circles.

Indeed, what I cut was nothing more than an image, a decoy left by Caster after teleporting. I knew Caster's tremendous confidence had to be supported by something, so I didn't throw a mortal attack at first. The fact that Caster's body offered no resistance to being cut by my blades confirmed my suspicions. But I didn't expect that.

The magical circles shone in unison and from them came several beams of concentrated prana in our direction. Immediately I stood again before Shirou and crossed the married swords in front of me.

The beam struck me, but its effect was greatly reduced by my magical resistance. That, combined with the increased resistance provided by using of Kanshou and Bakuya at the same time, resulted in my being unharmed.

After checking that I had not received any damage, I checked my surroundings. Aside from the fact that the ground near us had been burned, Shirou was only shot down by the shock wave of the beams stricking the ground and my swords.

"Manipulation of space and innate control of time? So in your territory you can simulate true magic. That changes everything."

Caster responded to my remarks with a smug smile. "On the other hand, you disappointed me, Archer. I thought you might be useful and I tested you, but you're worse than Assassin."

"I'm sorry, but I've always preferred to start slowly. I'll get more serious from now on." At the moment, she's following the normal pattern of all the magus I've faced. Trust her mystery is invincible and underestimate me.

But first things first. I have to get Shirou out of here so I can really go with everything.

I threw the swords in my hands sideways, calculating the trajectory so that they would collide with their attraction at Caster's current location. I turned around, grabbed Shirou from the back of his shirt collar, and jumped right in to avoid a prana beam. Caster simply flew to one side and avoided the swords. I landed on the roof, and immediately moved to dodge more prana beams.

"What the hell are you doing, Archer!?" I heard Shirou's angry voice as I leapt through the prana rays across the roof of the temple.

"Isn't that obvious? Getting you out of here. I can't let you get caught in the crossfire." Just when I said that, I jumped off the roof in the direction of the temple exit.

In the middle of the air, I traced Retriever in my left hand and I turned back. I swung the cursed sword and slashed the rays that were about to hit us. I completed the turn to land facing the door, and I ran over there while I was still dodging beams. So that she can spam that attack so many times, how long have she been stealing souls?

However, even if it looked like it, Caster wasn't just shooting at random, praying that some of the lasers would reach me. She was forcing me to go in one direction.

I reinforced my eyes, and with my clairvoyance ability, I was able to detect the trap she was guiding me into. It was about ten meters from me, in the middle of the path that goes from the stairs to the sanctuary door. And by the way the lasers were falling around me, that was the only way available. If I were alone, I would just ignore it and pass through the lasers with my magical resistance, but I can't do that while taking Shirou.

But, again, this isn't the first time someone's tried this on me, and I doubt it's the last. I don't know what's gonna happen when I step there, and I don't intend to find out.

I threw Retriever right into the trap and it went off the moment the sword went into the ground. The space around the blade froze, and the blade began to absorb the prana that kept the trap active. The prana accumulated in the sword reached its limit, so it was fired, destroying the ground where the trap was found and defusing it.

As a precaution, I avoided stepping on the crater around Retriever, and I used the hilt of the sword as a support to jump over it.

At that point, the stairs were already right in front of us, but my run was interrupted by a huge prana beam that swept the entire area in front of us.

"Are you running away, Archer? Aren't you supposed to finish me off?" I didn't bother to answer her provocation.

I took a few moments to analyze the current situation, and decided on the next course of action.

I released Shirou on the ground and turned to talk to him. "There shouldn't be any more problems here. You can stay here, go help Saber or do whatever you want. I'll take care of Caster."

He nodded, though he seemed a bit absent, and headed for the stairs. With that settled, I turned to face Caster again.

"Now that it's just you and me, Caster, it's when things are gonna get serious." I changed my neutral expression to the emotionless expression I used in the fights, and Kanshou and Bakuya appeared again in my hands. Without saying anything else, I ran to the roof for the same route as before, as I was sure there were no traps.

Caster wasted no time and resumed her bombing of prana beams. I kept running without deviating, I just needed to cut the rays with my swords and my magic resistance did the trick. It hardly took me a second to climb the roof now that I was no longer carrying Shirou.

As soon as I landed on the roof, I threw the pair of swords at Caster. She eluded them again easily, but this time, the first pair of swords I had thrown previously joined the attack, attracted by the second pair. They came from the backyard, that is, behind Caster. She barely had time to dodge the surprise attack, and she got a cut on her back.

The servant turned to look at me with an angry expression and shook her staff. This time, instead of pure prana rays, what shot me were torrents of flames and icicles. I was forced to dodge her endless bombing, but Caster also had problems to deal with.

The second pair of married swords flew back to Caster, attracted by the first, and so did the first pair. She had to stop her spam to fire a prana beam at each sword, and thus deflect them.

It's not enough, I need to force her to do that teleport trick again. I traced another pair of Kanshou and Bakuya in my hands and threw it along with the pair I was using to deflect Caster's attacks.

Caster snapped her tongue and deflected the new blades with more prana rays. Then, the sky filled with swirling swords, and they all started attacking Caster from every possible angle. The servant began to throw prana rays everywhere as if they were fireworks, but that wasn't enough.

Cornered, her lips began to formulate a spell at an inhuman speed. That was my cue. After a few seconds, Caster disappeared from the bundle of flying blades and reappeared in another position above the temple.

"Your cheap tricks won't work against me, Archer-" Her pretentious speech stopped when she couldn't find me anywhere.

"To never have stepped on a real battlefield, sure you like to brag." After hearing my voice behind her, she turned quickly to face me, but it was too late. By the time she turned around, Retriever was already being shot from my bow.

What happened here was Caster fell into a meticulously prepared trap. The swords were not only intended to corner her, but I directed them with a fifth pair in my hands to reduce the places Caster could safely teleport to. With that fixed, the moment Caster started casting the spell, I just had to position myself so that I would be on her back when she reappeared and prepare to shoot.

This plan could have gone wrong in many ways, but it worked because of a single motive. Caster underestimated me. This strategy is basically an alternative to the Triple-Linked Crane Wings that I designed to deal with death apostles that used long range magecraft. Only this time, instead of an opponent with speed and reflexes immensely superior to humans, my enemy could teleport.

As a desperate last resort, Caster created a kind of barrier in front of her, in an attempt to stop the "arrow". Retriever went through it like it wasn't there and pierced Caster's chest. She fell to the floor of the courtyard in front of the temple, as she coughed up a great deal of blood, and I landed beside her.

Although her wound was fatal to a human being, as a servant she could still survive. I traced Bakuya in my right hand and prepared for the final blow.

"A few last words?"

Caster looked at me under her hood, and spoke as she could while coughing up blood. "With that power, why don't you work with me, Archer? Together, we would easily win the war."

"So you don't regret anything, huh. If you think I'm going to collaborate with someone like you, you're very wrong."

With nothing more to say, I swung Bakuya to behead her. But instead of flesh, my sword met a long katana. I didn't need to turn around to know it was Assassin, and his katana was analyzed and recorded at the Unlimited Blade Works. If I have to fight him, the information will come in handy.

"Wow, it seems our Assassin here is not very honest with his feelings. Is this what they call in this country, a "Tsundere"?" Though I seemed to be joking, my deathly serious tone showed otherwise.

"I let you in to scare this witch, but I can't let you kill her. Although she's not officially, she's still my master."

"I thought Saber would have defeated by now, but I see she's still holding back." As I said that, I looked down the stairs to see Saber carrying Shirou over her shoulder. This one looked like he was about to faint and blood was dripping from his back. I had to suppress my desire to put a hand on my face and I remained focused on Assassin.

"I must admit she was a formidable opponent, but her thoughts were elsewhere. Instead, I see that you take the battles much more seriously. Why don't you and I cross swords, Archer?"

After telling me that, he forced my sword up with his katana, and then sent a thrust aimed at my chest. Quickly, I traced Kanshou in my left hand and deflected the attack to my right. With no time lost, I stepped towards Assassin and threw a swing at him with Bakuya.

He jumped back to avoid the attack and pull himself together, and I would have followed him, if I didn't have some unfinished business. During the exchange, Caster had begun casting the mystery to teleport, and that was something I could not allow. With all the energy stolen, she could regenerate even a fatal wound like that.

I threw Kanshou at Caster's neck, but it was too late. Caster disappeared, leaving behind prana butterflies, and Kanshou passed through harmlessly.

"Tch, I should have targeted the spiritual core."

I turned to look at Assassin again. He had not moved from the site and was still waiting for me in a relaxed posture with his sword in front of him.

This would be a good opportunity to finish him off. Without her watchdog, raid the temple would be much less complicated. But if this guy could match Saber in combat, even if she was holding back, he won't be so easy to beat. And besides, the technique I could see in his katana, Hiken: Tsubame gaeshi, is really a problem to keep in mind.

In addition, with the master of Saber in that state, we had to deal with it urgently. With that in mind, I opted for withdrawal.

"Though it's a shame Caster escaped, I've already accomplished my goal by coming here to rescue the master of Saber. Why don't we call it a day and all go and rest, Assassin?"

"Well, I let Saber go so I could fight her again in better conditions. But, even though I let you in, I won't let you out. Your head isn't very elegant, but I'll settle for it tonight."

"So I'm gonna have to force my way through you." When I had just said that, I stretched my left arm back and caught the Kanshou who was drawn to his twin. With both married swords in my hands again, I took my characteristic stance. Assassin did the same and took a much more serious fighting posture.

"Saber, take your master to home. I will catch up with you later." I could not pay attention to her answer as Assassin was already rushing towards me.

The fight started, and the place was filled with sounds of metal shocks and sparks. Our strength was more or less equal, but his agility was superior, as is often the case with class servants Assassin.

The samurai's skill with the sword was sublime, far superior to all the opponents I have faced. Although I have not experienced it firsthand, I would say that Saber's fencing is at the same or even slightly lower level.

I was forced into a situation similar to what I was in my fight with Lancer. My opponent was harnessing the full reach of his katana to throw quick thrusts without giving me room to fight back. Worse still, with his great agility, the attacks came from many different angles.

But, unlike last time, my swords didn't break on the few bumps. My fighting style was completely designed to fight superior opponents to me in any way, so I kept up the pace of the fight perfectly. The reason I wasn't going on the offensive was because it wasn't necessary. My goal was to get out of here, so I just needed to create an opening.

It's been a few minutes since the fight started. Saber was long gone, and Assassin seemed to be showing signs of exhaustion. It seems his stamina wasn't his best quality, and the fight with Saber was taking its toll, too.

This was both good and bad. Now, creating an opening would be easier, but increased the risk that Assassin would decide to use his noble phantasm.

Luckily, the opening showed up earlier. Assassin stood on my back and swung his blade horizontally with the intention of cutting off my head. Immediately I turned and stopped the attack with both swords. Our looks met, and I could see a smile on his face. It was noticeable that he was enjoying the fight. Too bad I was going to finish it already.

Before Assassin could separate his sword from mine, I pumped prana to Kanshou and Bakuya and performed a prana burst. My opponent flew back a few feet and slammed his back against the ground. Without wasting time, I overloaded the married swords with more prana and threw them towards Assassin. The swords struck the ground a metre from my opponent, and exploded, raising a smokescreen and shrapnel.

With that distraction, I left there without a problem.

* * *

_The orange sunset sky illuminated the sufficiently arid hill. Throughout the whole place, you could see countless swords stuck to the ground, with the hilt up, waiting to be used. It was, in fact, a hill of swords._

_At the top of the hill stood a tall man with white hair and steel gray eyes. His skin was slightly tanned, and he was wearing a sleeveless black and silver combat armor. His left arm and thighs were covered in a red cloak, and a part of that cloak was tied on his head so that it covered the top of his forehead and the knot was on his right temple._

_The man was looking at the horizon, with his back totally straight and his eyes full of determination. The lower part of his cloak was sweeping with the wind, giving a more epic appearance to his image, and his back gave the feeling that he could bear the weight of the world._

_The image became blurry, until it finally faded._

Tohsaka Rin's blue eyes slowly opened. This one was on her bed covered with white sheets. The dim moonlight entered through the window, illuminating the room. She rose to sit, as she cleared her eyes with her hands, and looked out the window beside her.

"Archer?" Her voice was a mixture of doubt and drowsiness. Her brain was still finishing processing the dream she had just had.

Through her bond, she could feel that at the moment, Archer was fighting. In the first instance, concern invaded her. Although they only met for a few days, one could say that their relationship became quite firm. More than master and servant, they were partners working side by side. The servant, though sometimes he could be a bit of an idiot, like a certain redhead, was a very nice person.

After that, she recalled the promise he made to her and the absolute trust he had at the time. Her worries faded, and Rin decided to rely on the victory of her servant.

* * *

Saber was finishing bandaging Shirou's back taking advantage of the knowledge she learned from Rin and Archer the night of the fight against berserker. Shirou seemed to be absent, but Saber's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

"Shirou, we need to talk about your actions. What you did was completely reckless and dangerous. You can't just jump and push me aside to get the attack yourself. You were lucky that you only caught one of Assassin's three strikes." Although she was reprimanding him, Saber seemed more worried than angry.

"But I can't let you down just like that Saber. Somehow, I realized what Assassin was going to do, and I couldn't help but jump in to help you."

Saber looked at her master in surprise for a few moments, her cheeks slightly flushed, and then coughed a little to disguise it.

"Even so, it is the servant's duty to protect his master, not the other way around." Shirou could only nod submissively.

"Anyway, Shirou, what do you mean you realized what Assassin was going to do?"

"I'm not quite sure what happened. When I looked at Assassin's sword, somehow, I got the information about it and its wielder. It was very similar to when I used structural grasp."

"That's an impressive skill, Shirou. If we could use that with the other servants, we would have a huge advantage."

"I wouldn't trust that much. I don't even know if it's gonna work next time."

Both remained silent and Saber finished treating Shirou's wound. He returned to his thoughts, reflecting on the events of that night.

A few minutes passed, and while Saber kept the utensils she had used in the first aid kit, Shirou resumed the conversation. "Saber, what do you think of Archer?"

The servant stopped at what she was doing and adopted a thoughtful expression. "Archer, huh. So that's what you're thinking so much about. Did he say anything to you while I wasn't there?"

Hearing that, Shirou recalled what Archer told him the other night. Since then, he had been circling those words. Archer was a hero of justice during his live? Based on his actions, you could say yes, but watching him fight tonight made him have some doubts.

"Not really. But his personality changed during his battle with Caster surprised me. Although he is already quite stoic, by the time he put me to safety, his expression became cold and emotionless. It looked more like a machine than a person."

Saber took a few moments to digest the information. "Well, even though I haven't interacted much with him, I don't think Archer is that inhumane. You saw him, too, did you, Shirou? His sword handling was like a clear current. I think his heart is really pure."

"I suppose you're right." Shirou nodded and let it go. But, that led him to another matter of concern. The fact that Archer had to risk taking him out of the battle zone so he wouldn't get hurt upset him. In those moments, he felt a great deal of helplessness for not being able to help him and being nothing more than a burden

"Decided." With his thoughts resolved, he grabbed the hand of Saber with his two hands. "Saber, when my wounds heal, teach me to use the sword. Not a simple training, I want you to teach me how to fight. I don't want to be a spectator anymore, I want to be able to help you in the fights from here on out."

Saber looked surprised, but she finally showed a smile. "Okay, if that's what you want..."

"Then it's decided." They both shook hands with smiles on their faces, and after a long night, they went to rest.

* * *

**And that's all so far. With this we already have the first interactions between Shirou and Archer and the fight between Archer and Caster. I didn't show the fight between Saber and Assassin because, in essence, it's the same as the original. The only thing that changes is Shirou jumping to save Saber from the Tsubame gaeshi. To balance the facts of both fights, Sasaki uses the Tsubame gaeshi at the time Caster is cornered by the four pairs of Kanshou and Bakuya. Shirou gets in the way and gets hurt. Assassin decides to end the fight and lets them go, as in the original story, and he leaves to save his master, who is about to be killed by Archer. Knowing still doesn't know why Assassin ended the fight abruptly and follows him, and there they find King of Fakers talking to Assassin with his cold expression.**

**As a matter of fact, the wound Caster's running away with is really serious. Retriever pierced his rib cage, spinal column, and both lungs partially. This means that it will need more time to recover than in the original story, where it was just brushed by the spatial distortion of Caladbolg. As you will already know what the next event in history is, I don't think I have to say what this event influences.**

**Looks like I'm getting back to the talks I used to do in my other story at the end of every chapter. However, let us continue with the other important fact shown at the end of this chapter. It may seem odd that now, suddenly, Shirou says that King of Fakers looks like a machine when he fights, but it has a why. You may have noticed that the King of Fakers in this story is much more stoic than the one before. He developed a cold, emotionless mask for when he is forced to kill during his life, and he is aware of that, but he does not attach much importance to it. He did not think twice when he was going to shoot Hrunting at Assassin, without even knowing him or knowing whether the servant was a bad person or not. Were it not for the appearance of Saber, Assassin would certainly have died.**

**The point is, even though he's not as worn out as EMIYA, King of Fakers is still affected by all the time he's been serving Alaya, for nothing he forget his name and part of his life. The moment he decided to destroy the Grail, he immediately labeled the other servants as targets to kill. Saber was an exception because it reminds him of someone very important in his life, and her master. The blow he took when Nero died right under his nose and couldn't save her was very hard.**

**In conclusion, and even if this is a bit spoiler, but if you've come this far, take it as a reward, Shirou's "flame" is not the only one that needs to be revived.**

**Now, moving on to issues not so important and serious, for Archer's fight against Caster I was inspired by Shirou's fight against this same servant of Oath under the snow.**

**In the part where King of Fakers says, "****Looks like I made in time, that was really close****" I was tempted to put "Yare Yare, I made it in time," making a healthy reference to Jojo.**

**Finally, as a curious fact, I was watching Lord El-Melloi II's anime, and I noticed that one of the protagonists belongs to the Escardos family. Those who have read _King of Fakers: Saving them_ _all_ will know what Finn did to the heir of that family. Well, I guess, in this timeline, the kid is either a normal person or belongs to another Magus family.**

**To finish, as always, I would like to know your opinions, reviews and questions about the chapter.**

**With this I say goodbye, until we meet again.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hey people. I wasn't dead, I was on a binge, literally. The thing is, I went to a festival for five days, and when I came back, I wasn't in the best shape to write. Anyway, I apologize for not having warned you in the previous chapter. But enough of me, here I bring you the next chapter of this story. This chapter does not have as much action and is more a chapter of transition, but from now on the changes in the original history begin.**

**As for the reviews, as pointed out chaos499, I set out to correct the errors in the previous chapter. If I haven't missed one, it should be clean by now.**

**And to answer the question of SentinalSlice, which is by the way the first one that someone does in this story, finally someone was encouraged : You're right. Actually, King of Fakers is not the most original character. It is simply to take Shirou, change his nationality, the time he lived, a little his appearance and make him more powerful. I put him in as OC because if I put him as Archer he can be mistaken for EMIYA, and he's not exactly a Shirou Emiya either. What I want to represent with this character is a person who, because of circumstances exactly the same as Shirou, ended up developing the same magic and ideals, and, unlike EMIYA, did manage to fulfill his dream during his life. For the purposes of the plot, Shirou and Finn are distinct but very similar entities, similar to the Faces. I do not know if I have explained myself well, but the subject will be covered in this story eventually.**

**Now, without further delay, let the chapter begin.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any right over Type-Moon or Fate franchise.**

* * *

By the time I arrived at the Emiya residence, through the windows I could see that Shirou had already been treated by Saber and was in good condition. It seems his mysterious healing factor has returned to the anction.

With that verified, I returned to the Tohsaka residence to rest for the rest of the night. Though my days on the front line against Ortenrosse's minions provided me with good endurance, fighting two servants, one after the other, proved more exhausting than I expected.

I spent the few hours left until dawn reflecting on the implications of the events that happened that night. Caster getting away is a problem. Not only will she continue to steal energy from the inhabitants of this city, but she will now surely reinforce her defenses. Besides, the next time we fight, she won't take me lightly, and I didn't get to discover her true identity.

Still, I didn't show many of my cards either, I defeated her using only Kanshou and Bakuya, and Retriever. She may have noticed I'm using air gradation, but she still doesn't know about my reality marble. If I take her out of her territory and put her into Unlimited Blade Works, her defeat will be almost assured, but I'd like not to have to go that far to defeat her.

As for Assassin, from his sword I could find out that he is an nameless samurai who adopted the identity of Sasaki Kojiro. The only dangerous thing about him is his technique, Tsubame Gaeshi. Apart from that, he's just an ordinary samurai. Beat him from a distance with a broken phantasm would be the most efficient way. The only drawback I can have for not having defeated him would be that he knows I can use the prana burst, and he will surely inform Caster.

We still have plenty of time to think about Caster. Healing the hole in her chest will take a day or two, considering the enormous amount of energy she have. The best thing will be to deal with the problem at school during that time.

As I was immersed in my thoughts, the time to wake up of Rin arrived. While she was having breakfast and preparing to go to school, I briefly told her what happened in her sleep. At first, she reproached me for Caster slipping away, but in the end she told me I was right to prioritize Shirou's safety.

We agreed to follow the original plan. As predicted, today, the master who hides in the school would make his move. We'll beat him before the bounded field ends up killing anyone.

When we were already in the corridors of the school building, a student with blue hair and blue eyes crossed our path to Rin's classroom.

"Yo! Tohsaka." He greeted Rin informally as he ran a hand through his hair.

She put a disgusted face on him, but quickly adopted the model student mask she usually uses while at school. "Good morning, Matou Shinji-kun. Do you need anything from me?" Sarcasm was present in her voice.

The boy continued the conversation ignoring Rin's attitude. "I just came to talk, Tohsaka." He paused for a moment to look around, and seeing that no one was listening, he continued in a low voice.

"You should know by now about my status as heir to the Matou family. That's why I was chosen as master of the Holy Grail War. Tell me, Tohsaka, would you ally yourself with me?"

Rin's fake smile changed to a frown. "So you really are a master... why should I ally myself with someone like you?"

"If we work together, we can crush the fool Emiya and the other masters easily." As he responded, he put on an arrogant smile.

Rin put a question mark on his statement. "Is that so? What can someone who doesn't even have magic circuits bring to me?" That answer hit him very hard, even made a grimace.

After he got his act together, he kept insisting. "Come on, Tohsaka, there's no reason to turn down my generous offer."

Rin was starting to lose her cool. She doesn't seem to really like this guy. "You're very persistent. I'm not going to ally with you. Besides, I am already working with Emiya-kun." I could say that it was hard for her not to blush when she said the latter. But it seems that she succeeded.

"So that's how it is, huh. You will regret this, Tohsaka!" After saying that, he left with his arrogant smile once again on his face.

Rin stood watching where he went and let her forced smile fall.

"_Tell me, Archer, what do you think of him?_" She asked me out of the blue.

To be honest, just to see his attitude, I could already say I didn't like him. He reminded me of those guys in the Senate of Rome.

_"Let's just say I don't get along with those kind of people very well. Anyway, Rin, you never mentioned that boy on your list of potential masters."_

_"That's because I didn't think he could be a master without having magic circuits, but it seems like I was wrong. I guess the Grail didn't find another suitable candidate from the Matou family."_

_"Still, it's strange. I didn't find any command seal on his body. And even if we assume he's not lying, he's got a lot of numbers to be the one who set the bounded field."_

_"Is that what you think? I'd say it was someone else like Caster who put it up."_

_"After fighting her on her territori, I can say that's not the case. This bounded field is too... crude, unrefined to be Caster's work."_

_"If you say so..."_

At that moment, the bell rang to announce the beginning of the first period. Rin headed into her living room and I stood on patrol through the halls in spiritual form. I spent my periods before recess watching the Matou boy, who happened to go to the same class as Shirou. This one came after the first period, and he seemed a little tired, like he'd been working out recently.

Moreover, since Emiya arrived, the Matou went from being nervous and sweating to watching him intensely and with a manic smile. His behavior screamed suspicious, with capital letters.

Apart from that, the only so remarkable thing I found was that the history teacher was absent today. That might be a simple coincidence, but something tells me there's more to it than that.

Finally, lunchtime arrived, and after an embarrassing scene from Rin going to invite Shirou for lunch together, they both ended up on the roof. The two sat on the floor, with their backs resting on the wall, next to the water tank. After a few moments of quiet eating, Shirou started the conversation.

"Thank you. For yesterday." Rin looked at him with a questioning expression, until the realization hit her.

"You don't need to thank me, we're allies. Besides, it was Archer who saved you."

"I'd also like to thank him. If he hadn't arrived in time..."

On hearing that, I decided to materialize by leaning against the corner wall to their right, leaving Rin between Shirou and me. "I did it because I wanted to, so you don't have to thank me. Anyway, I couldn't stop you from arriving home with your back cut off, so you could say I failed."

"Still, you saved me from... whatever Caster was going to do to me. And I was nothing but a burden to you during the fight. So let me thank you." After he said that he got up and bowed to me.

Seeing that this could take a long time, I finally gave in and sighed. "Okay, I'll accept your gratitude. But, next time, don't separate from Saber and let them capture you so easily." Hearing that, Shirou blushed slightly and looked down.

Before he answered me, we were interrupted by a giggle. We both turned to watch Rin cover her mouth with her hand to try to cover up her fun.

"You look like a comedy duo. Seriously, you are a lot alike."

We both looked at each other for a few seconds. She was right, in many ways. Apart from our ideals, our faces were also very similar, only differentiated by his Asian features.

"That might be true..." I heard Shirou mumble low, and I agreed with him.

Just at that moment, the bell announcing the end of lunch rang.

"Damn, break's over." After saying that, Shirou wrapped up his bento again and set out to leave, but was stoped by Rin.

"Join me for a while. You can skip a class, can't you?"

He agreed, and after buying a can of soda, they both started talking about the magecraft they were practicing. Something unusual for magus. Hence the conversation passed to the Matou family and their inability to produce heirs with magical circuits, and to our surprise, Shirou already knew that Shinji was a master.

From there, Rin explained to the Saber's master about her encounter with Matou this morning, and about her theory of the fourth master, based on Shinji having no power as a master. That's when Shirou got hysterical.

"And what are you going to do?"

"What?"

"It's true that Shinji is not a magus, but the bounded field was put by him. Didn't you notice?" Rin's eyes opened like plates, and I materialized with my hand already in my face.

"I hate it when I'm right. But it's late for regrets. Here it comes." At the same time I was talking, the bounded field was activated and the entire school was wrapped in a red bubble. On top of this, a huge red eye appeared with a square pupil, to which all the energy sucked was directed.

Without saying anything, the three of us left the roof in a hurry and headed towards the classrooms. Already in the hall of the top floor, Shirou stopped and began to tire himself.

"What is happening!?"

"Keep your prana circulating throughout the body, Emiya-kun." Rin replied immediately.

He did as he was told, and after a few moments he managed to get his act together. It was no wonder, with his low reserves of prana, his magical resistance barely prevented the bounded field from crushing him.

"And Sakura!?" Suddenly, this one seemed to be hit by a realization and started running towards one of the classes in the hall. Rin and I followed him, and after we opened the door, we were greeted by a horrific image.

The students were scattered on the floor, with the tables and chairs lying around. Everyone was drooling, half unconscious because of the immense pain they felt. There were even some convulsing.

Rin had to cover her mouth with both hands to avoid vomiting. As for me, my only reaction was a contraction in my eyebrows. To this day, I still find it sad that scenes like this hardly cause a reaction in me. And, from what I saw, Shirou was not affected either. Most likely, he too lived a similar hell to the one I lived through, which would also explain his distortion.

We both went into the classroom resolutely. He noticed a girl who had been lying in the corner, who I recognized as the girl with purple hair I met a few times, and went to check her pulse. I followed him and did the same with the students around. Luckily, they were still breathing, though barely.

"Breathe. We can still do something. We have to look for Shinji and undo the bounded field" Shirou reported in a flat tone. His emotionless face made Rin shrink a bit.

While they were both leaving the hall, I stood for a few moments watching the girl named Sakura. It struck me since I came in, that she wasn't drooling or struggling to breathe. It looked like she wasn't affected by the bounde field. I was about to bend over to check her further when I was interrupted by a cry from the Rin.

What are you doing, Archer!? We need you here!"

Immediately, I kicked the door down beside me and walked out into the hallway. I met Rin and Shirou being surrounded by dragontooth warriors, three on each side of the aisle. The next instant, Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in my hands, and I threw them sideways. The blades cut off the head of the two relatives at my sides, leaving the middle one confused, and passed by the sides of Shirou and Rin. The swords were bent by their attraction and cut off the heads of the three other familiars. At the same time, my reinforced fist smashed against the head of the remaining dragontooth warrior, destroying it completely. Finally, the married swords, after colliding, returned to my hands.

The maneuver barely lasted seconds, and both masters were stunned by the sudden disappearance of the enemies, with Rin still pointing her arm to shoot a Gandr and Shirou holding a reinforced mop.

Shirou was the first to react. "What were those things!?"

"Dragontooth warriors, a kind of familiar! More specifically, Caster's familiars, but what are they doing here?" Rin replied thoughtful.

"Looks like your fourth master theory wasn't going wrong, Rin." With that phrase I gained both of your attention. "These familiarsmust be a defense mechanism, an insurance, left by Caster to be activated at the time Shinji's bounded field was activated. Either Shinji is Caster's master, or Caster's master is someone else from this school, and I'm inclined to think of the second option."

"Are you sure about that, Archer?"

"Very sure. It's very unlikely that Caster is actively doing this. She'll still be recovering from our fight. But more importantly, does anyone have a plan?" Just as I said that, more dragontooth warriors appeared from both sides of the corridor, coming from the lower floors.

"Should I call Saber with a command seal?" Shirou gave his idea.

"I don't think it's necessary, I just feel the presence of a servant on the first floor. With me it should be enough." I answered him, and we both looked at Rin to get her opinion.

"Well, Archer has a point. You only have two command stamps left, so you can't waste them. Moreover, the servant he feels must be responsible for all this, as I also notice the origin of the bounded field on the first floor."

"And what do we do with those things?" Shirou asked, pointing his improvised weapon at the relatives.

Then, seeing that no one had a plan, I shared mine. "I will go and defeat Shinji's servant, and deactivate the barrier. By the way, I will clean up all the family members who find me along the way. You can deal with the remaining family members and catch up with me later. Being so weak and with no one to replenish their numbers you should have no problem."

By this point, we were already surrounded, but the skeletons were reluctant to attack because of my presence.

"It's okay with me, but I can't fight and protect Emiya-kun at the same time." Rin responded, causing Shirou to be outraged.

"Hey, Tohsaka, I can fight too. I'm not going to let myself be a burden once again." With so much determination in his voice, Rin could do nothing but give in.

"Then, I'll give you some advice." I spoke to him directly to get his attention. "You said you specialize in reinforcement magecraft, right?" He nodded and I continued. "I see you already know how to reinforce objects quite accurately, but that's not the only thing you can reinforce. You can also reinforce your body and your senses. This will give you a good boost in your physical and sensory abilities."

"That's suicide! If it goes wrong, he will explode!" Rin replied hysterically.

"It doesn't have to be that way if he does it carefully and using structural grasp well. It's what I've always done and do, and nothing has ever happened to me. Anyway, the choice is yours boy."

With that said, I threw myself forward in a burst of speed, cutting with Kanshou and Bakuya all the skeletons in my path. From the outside, it looked like a whirlwind of steel, leaving only the remains of the relatives on the way to the first floor.

Already there I went to the hall where I felt the servant's presence, which turned out to be the science hall. From a slam door, I entered the room and found Shinji sitting at one of the tables right in front of me and on my left a tall woman with long lilac hair. This one had her eyes covered with a kind of purple bandage, she wore a black and purple cloth set, formed by two parts, one that covered her thigh from the chest, leaving her shoulders exposed, and the other one covering from knees to feet, melting with her boots. In her hands were a pair of nails, joined together by a long chain. She was the servant, and she fit perfectly with the description Rin gave me about the Rider servant.

The master was surprised to see me, but he quickly recomposed and adopted his smug expression.

"You must be Tohsaka's servant, don't you? She sent you to negotiate with me?" His arrogant attitude didn't have much credit when he was sweating everywhere. As he spoke, he retreated and placed himself behind his servant.

"I will come straight to the point. I will give you only one chance. If you deactivate the bounded field, surrender and abandon the Holy Grail War, I assure you you will not get hurt and we'll avoid an unnecessary bloodshed." Actually, I had no doubt the boy would decline my offer, but I guess old habits die hard.

A few seconds of silence passed, and Shinji finally reacted, bursting into laughter.

"Hahahaha. Why should I give up when I have the advantage? My servant is the strongest, and soon, the bounded field will absorb the energy of all students, including Emiya's. Then I will be unstoppable. I will have the war in my pocket." He paused in his classic villain speech to get a book out of his pocket. This one opened and began to emit a purple glow. On the page that the book was left, I could see the command seals. That revealed the mystery mostly.

As the pieces began to come together in my head, the guy continued his speech. "I know, I'll kill you right here, and then Tohsaka will be all mine. I can't wait to get my hands on her. Kill him Rider!"

On receiving the order, Rider spread her chain all over the place and began jumping through the walls and ceiling at high speed. She looked more like an animal than a human. Soon after, the nails in the chain began to be fired at me from different angles repeatedly, trying to trap and immobilize me.

I did not even move. I simply followed her with my eyes at all times and deflected the nails with my swords. From the beginning I noticed the flaw in her fighting style. Her style required immense agility and speed, but, at the moment, her agility was just slightly superior to mine. No doubt, it is the same case as Saber's. Her parameters were reduced because her master could not provide enougth prana.

This was gonna be quick. The moment she passed in front of me, I deliberately let one of the nails wrap around my left arm.

"You've got him, Rider! Finish him!" Her master shouted triumphantly, but he was wrong.

It was not she who had trapped me, but I had her. I pulled with all my strength from the chain and lured her to me. She didn't have time to react in the middle of the air. When she was right in front of me, my reinforced leg connected to her abdomen, and I performed a little prana burst.

The voluptuous woman spit out a lot of blood and flew away, crashing into the back wall of the room.

"Huh?" Shinji's face of disbelief was quite satisfying. His previous speech bothered me enough, and what he said you were gonna do to Rin was the cherry on the cake. I repressed as I could, dissipated Kanshou and Bakuya, and removed the chain from my arm.

"What are you doing? Stand up and fight, you cheap servant!" The book lit up and it looked like it was going to use a command seal.

I reacted instantly and threw a newly traced Retriever. The cursed blade went through the book and stuck right to the left side of the crater on the wall that caused Rider to land. The sudden event made Rider's master fall backwards and the grimoire turned to ashes by losing all the prana inside.

Quickly, I went to the sword, pulled it out of the wall and put its blade on Rider's neck. "If you want any chance of getting out alive, turn off the bounded field, now." My cold tone left no doubt that she would die if she didn't do what I said.

She stood still for a few moments, until I finally noticed that the bounded field was defused.

Her ex-master, since I cut off their bond, didn't take it too well. "What the hell are you doing!? Why are you obeying him, you fucking piece of shit!? I am your master! You only have to do as I command, you useless fucking family!" I was really getting angry.

I turned to him and directed the cold, insensitive look I put on when I'm forced to kill. I hit him with murder intent, a trick that helped me solve some conflicts without using violence. By fighting so many dead apostles and enduring their oppressive aura, I ended up coddling it in some way, and it only got better after confronting the Primate Murder. I was always good at imitating others, there's a reason I'm the King of Fakers.

If we add to that that I was holding Retriever in my hands, a cursed sword that releases a huge evil aura, well... I could see how Rider's ex-master's pants were getting wet.

"Ah... ¡AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" With a scream of sheer terror, the boy crawled out of the science room.

I looked back at the servant with my sword still at her throat, which looked paler than before. "Well, now we can talk without interruptions. I want you to answer my questions. Tell me, why did you obey that boy? He was obviously not your true master."

Seeing that she wasn't talking, I glanced at her neck, and I was surprised to see that the curse was affecting her even though I didn't get to inflict a wound. It seems that this servant had the conceptual feature of monster, although it seemed quite weak. I lifted the sword a little bit of her neck and the curse stopped trying to consume her.

This seemed to make her more willing to talk. "I obeyed it because my teacher asked me to." I heard her voice for the first time since we met, and it was much more feminine and charming than I expected.

I stared at her for a few moments, but I could not detect that she was lying. "Next question. Who is your true master? Is the student named Sakura?" That was more of an assumption of mine since it seemed that the girl was not completely affected by the bounded field, but, the way her eyebrows were raised for a few moments, it looks like I was actually right. My occult plot theory is becoming more and more meaningful.

"By your reaction, I'll take that as a yes. But, anyway, I just have to check if her last name is Matou. If you spare me that trouble, we can reach an agreement."

"Yes, she is my master." She answered again with a short sentence.

"Good, now tell me, what's the story behind the girl and the change of master?" Listening to that question, her stoic expression changed to what seemed a bit of a question mark.

"Why would you want to know that?"

"Call it the intuition. You could say that, throughout my life, every time I've encountered an anomaly like this, behind it there was always some kind of dark plot."

"Are you sure? The story is unpleasant, and I don't know the exact details very well."

I concentrated on my link to Rin. She was still on the floor above us, and from the way she was using prana, it looks like there was still some Caster familiars around.

"I still have some time, so sum it up as much as you can."

* * *

Rin and Shirou finally arrived on the first floor, having cleaned out all the enemy familiars in the building. They found more skeletons than they expected, and Shirou ended up doing the madness Archer suggested and reinforced himself. Luckily, nothing went wrong and Shirou came out intact.

The bounded field was already deactivated, so they assumed Archer had already defeated Shinji's servant. But, as he did not return or communicate with them, they decided to go down to the first floor to check it out.

As soon as they arrived, they found Shinji huddled in a corner that formed a pillar, just below a window. He had a completely pale face, with a lost look and sweating a lot. When they approached him, he did not even react.

Rin grabbed him by the neck of his uniform and pushed him into the middle of the hall. The boy with the blue hair seemed to react to this and looked Rin straight in her eyes.

"Well, what are you doing here? Did you abandon your servant to her fate while he fought mine?" His reaction to hearing Archer's mention was instantaneous.

"Get him away from me! Get him away from me! He's a monster! He killed her!" The Matou began to shout out prayers that seemed to have no meaning, as his face was contorted by sheer horror. It looked like he saw the death in person.

Rin stepped back a little when he saw such a reaction, and Shirou decided to look into the room right next to them to see what happened to make Shinji act like that. But, before she could open the door, it opened on its own, revealing Archer behind it. This one had a thoughtful and at the same time disgusted expression and his combat suit had some blood stains.

Seeing both masters, he stepped out of his stupor and spoke. "Oh, so you're done wiping out the familiars. Good, now that I've eliminated the servant Rider and got her to deactivate the bounded field, we can evacuate the victims now."

His gaze settled on Shinji for a few moments, and he shrank even further. "I no longer have a servant, I am no longer a master, you don't have to kill me! Please don't kill me!" After screaming hysterically, he got up half a trip and ran out of school.

"Archer, what the hell did you do to him?" Rin asked her servant with little anger in her voice.

"He was in the way, so I hit him with a murderous intent to make him run, but I think it got a little out of hand." Archer responded in a flat tone, as if he was just saying what he had for dinner yesterday.

"A little bit you say. Archer, I could see he'd even peed himself."

"All right, I'll admit I may have done it a little on purpose, but the kid really pissed me off. I told you I don't get along with people like him."

Rin let out a long sigh. Sometimes, dealing with Archer was getting pretty uphill. "At least you didn't kill him. Anyway, why did you take so long to appear? The bounded field was deactivated long ago."

"Since I didn't know if killing the owner would deactivate, I forced her to do so. By the way, while I was there, I decided to see if I could get some relevant information out of her, but I couldn't get anything and I ended up giving her the final blow."

Rin stared at her servant with a complicated look. It was the first time she heard him talk so casually about killing.

Shirou, who remained silent throughout the exchange, intervened then. "We should start taking out the wounded. They may get worse if we delay them."

Rin and Archer agreed, and all three mobilized to treat the victims. But suddenly Archer stopped in his tracks before the two teachers. "Another servant approaches us."

The three immediately stood on guard, but relaxed to see who she was.

"Shirou!" Running towards them in her casual dress, they found Saber. "I came as fast as I could when I noticed there was something strange with you. What's the situation?"

"The bounded field was activated and nearly killed the people in the school, but the situation is already under control. I'll give you the details later. For now, could you help us treat the victims, Saber?"

"Of course, Shirou."

With that said, the four of them got to work. The process of treating and removing all students and teachers from their classes lasted until the afternoon. This was led mainly by Shirou, Saber and Archer, with some help from Rin, who was still affected by the scene in front of her.

When they finished, they called the supervisor, Kirei Kotomine, to make the appropriate arrangements to evacuate the victims and cover up the event.

As they waited for the authorities to arrive, Emiya told his servant what happened with details. At all times, his expression remained neutral and his tone was flat and emotionless. It seemed that the boy was not even affected by seeing so many people in such a deplorable state.

"I see. So the servant who set the delimited field was Rider, and it seems Caster's teacher is also hiding in the school." Saber took a few moments to digest all the information.

Shirou noticed that Rin was staring at him and turned to look straight at her. "Hey... Tohsaka, you've been quiet the whole time. If you have something to say say it."

"You're very calm, Emiya-kun. I didn't expect it." Almost like Archer, she thought to herself.

"I'm not calm. Didn't you see me lose control of anger?"

"But still, you controlled everyone's wounds. I couldn't do it."

"It's no big deal. I'm used to seeing dead bodies." "Are you used to seeing them?" Rin and Saber stared at him full of worry, after all, a normal person wouldn't say anything like that. Archer barely flinched and continued with his thoughtful expression that he put since they finished treating the affected people.

Shirou ignored the atmosphere and peered through one of the corridor windows to see that ambulances and police cars were already hitting the school.

"We should get out of here." The other three agreed, and they all left the school building by the emergency exit unnoticed.

Already in the woods next to the school they stopped to continue talking.

"So, what is the next course of action Rin?" Archer, who had been quiet and a little absent so far, started the conversation.

"Looking for Caster's master, isn't it obvious?" Rin answered as she scrutinized her servant. She found it odd that Archer should ask such an obvious question.

"I know that much already. What I mean is that our alliance with the Master of Saber was supposed to end when we dealt with the whole bounded field thing. Now that that's settled, are we going to be enemies again?" The last sentence was said with a serious tone, adding even more weight to the implications.

The realization struck all three, and Saber put herself on the defensive before her master automatically, materializing her magical armor and her invisible sword. The atmosphere became tense between the two servants, and Rin had to intervene to calm things down.

"Wait, Archer! I said the alliance would last until we found the master who was hiding in the school. Although we solved the Shinji issue, Caster's master is still hiding in the school. Until we find him, the ceasefire remains."

Hearing Rin's response, Archer blinked a couple of times. "Oh, there seems to have been a misunderstanding here. I was just asking Rin what she wanted to do. I'm not against the alliance if it can make things easier for us."

With that, the atmosphere relaxed and Saber tried to apologize, although she was rejected by Archer.

"But, Saber, I'd like to know why you weren't around when the bounded field was activated."

"You should know by now Archer. Since I cannot enter into spiritual form, I cannot accompany my teacher to school." Saber responded with a little indignation, although it was almost imperceptible.

"There are other alternatives, like watching from a rooftop or ordering something from a nearby bar or cafeteria and spending time there while you watch the school. The point is, with your master being kidnapped recently, you shouldn't be so careless."

Saber intended to answer Archer, but could not. Deep down, she knew he was right. They looked like a father scolding his daughter.

"You're right, Archer, I'll be more careful."

"Now, as for the subject of Caster's master..." Archer turned to look at Rin, telling her to continue it.

"The best thing would be to let him keep coming to school, instead of provoking him and putting him on guard."

"Do you want us to attack him before he goes back to Ryuudouji Temple once we know who he is?" Shirou asked for confirmation.

"That's the idea."

"But after what happened, I doubt he'll do anything as dangerous as going to school."

That's a possibility, but you saw how Caster set up counter-measures for her master to escape in an emergency. Besides, we still don't know whether Caster's master retains his will or was turned into a puppet by his servant." Archer intervened by giving his point of view.

"I understand... Anyway, we'll keep looking into the school and when we find Caster's master, we'll attack him."

"I guess that's the right way, but how are we going to find him?"

"We'll leave that for another time. We're all tired. We'll leave it here for today."

"What? Well, we can still..."

"She's right. You shouldn't overexert yourself. Just half a day ago you had your back cut off and today you fought Caster's relatives. If you want to be stronger, you also need to know what your current limit is." Archer's words struck Shirou deeply.

Rin stood in front of this one, with her hands on her hips, to face him directly. "Hey Archer, what's wrong with you today? You're much more edgy than usual."

"Do you think? I'm just giving them advice as their ally." Master and servant stared into each other's eyes, scanning each other. Finally, Rin yielded and gave a sigh.

"Let's go home Archer, we'll talk there. See you tomorrow, Emiya-kun." After saying goodbye, Archer went into spiritual form and both left.

Shirou was engrossed for a few moments, watching where they went, until Saber's voice pulled him out of the trance.

"Shirou, we should leave too." He nodded and both left the scene.

* * *

By the time we got back to the Tohsaka residence, Rin sat on a sofa in the living room and ordered me to sit next to her.

I gave a resigned sigh and started the conversation. "So what do you want to talk about, Rin?"

She replied immediately. "Though it may not seem a bad thing to me, tell me, Archer, why did you give Emiya-kun such advice? I'd say it's something unbecoming of you, knowing you'll eventually be our enemy."

Straight to the point, huh? I guess I have no choice but to be honest. "Let's just say he reminds me of when I was young. I couldn't help but want to help him a little."

"And what about the reinforcement? That could have easily killed him."

If you ask me, I don't even know why I told him that, it was the heat of the moment.

"The boy wanted to be able to fight, and I only gave him an option that was feasible with his limited set of skills." That answer didn't seem to please Rin at all, but she let it go.

"You said that was something you did too. Could you tell me more about that? In fact, don't you think it's about time you told me more about yourself, Archer?"

I gave another sigh. I knew this would happen sooner or later, but I didn't think it would be so soon.

"As for your first question, you know I'm not a very good magus, right?" She nodded to confirm. "Well, that's quite a substation. Actually, reinforcement is one of the few magecrafts I can use. I practiced it from a small age until you could say I perfected it. Even now as a servant, I still use it to increase my physical abilities during combat, or improve my senses."

Rin listened carefully to my explanation showing enough interest. "So, why did you learn something as dangerous as reinforcing your own body? What did you do during your life?"

Listening to his question, my mind began to travel through my blurred memories. "I travelled around Britain and the European continent, helping and saving all the people who needed it. I also dealt with the supernatural threats at the time, such as phantasmal species or dead apostles. That's why I needed the reinforcement, to be strong enough to save people from those threats." As I was talking, my expression became a nostalgic one.

At the end, I looked at Rin, only to see her in her thoughts, and her expression seemed a little bewildered.

I coughed a little to get her attention and spoke again. "Anyway, you should soon start seeing my memories through the cycle of dreams. With that your questions should be answered."

"Yes... you are right." Her answer came out almost as a murmur, and still seemed a little absent.

I looked at the clock to see what time it was, a very useful invention if it fits. "We still have some time until dinner. You want to talk about something else, Rin?"

"We could start planning the Caster master thing. Where should we start?"

"Hmm... we could start with people who have some connection with Ryuudouji Temple."

At that time, Rin seemed to enlighten herself with an idea. "I have the perfect candidate. Ryuudou Issei, the president of the student council. His family is part of the temple monks, and every day he comes to school from the Temple."

"Then we already have the first suspect. Now, how should we investigate him without him starting to suspect?"

Rin started thinking with one hand resting on her chin. "The problem is that every time he sees me he screams something about me being a witch and runs away." I couldn't help but sweat at that.

"Oh, wait. We can ask Emiya-kun. Those two have been friends for a while."

"So it's decided."

With that said, Rin set out for dinner and went to bed early. The day had been exhausting for her.

Now that I was alone, I could think about what Rider told me. The torment that the girl named Matou Sakura has to endure daily, and the old worm called Matou Zouken. As this one forces his "granddaughter" to dive into a literal pool of his familiar worms to make her god knows what, and how his "brother" Matou Shinji got prana from her so he could sustain Rider.

Rider was right, that story really made me sick. I would have wanted to save the girl by itself, but knowing this, I feel the urgent need to do something about it, as soon as possible. But I can't rush it, the situation is more delicate than it seems.

I remembered the last moments of my meeting with Rider, when she finished telling me the story.

_I released the sword from her neck, dissipated it and took a couple of steps back. My head was still processing the horrible story._

_"Aren't you going to kill me?" Rider's emotionless voice pulled me out of shock._

_"No, I need you to watch the girl while I plan something." I left my cold voice tone and returned to my usual flat tone._

_"What do you plan to do with this information?"_

"_Save her, of course." My answer caught her by surprise, but she kept looking at me with some suspicion._

_"That's what anyone would do. I'm not going to let that innocent girl go on living in that hell." My earnest gaze and determined voice managed to convey my true intentions._

_The servant relaxed a bit. "You are a strange man."_

"_I get that a lot."_

_At that moment, we heard a scream coming from the hallway. "He's a monster! He killed her!"_

_"They're here. You'd better get out of here. We'll meet near the Matou residence, I'll give you the signal."_

_She simply nodded, took spiritual form and left the place. I went to the door and opened it to meet Shirou and Rin._

I'll have to find some space to meet Rider without Rin finding out, but for now, I should start thinking about how to handle it.

Let's see, Rider described Zouken Matou as a very old person, so much so that his appearance seemed more inhumane. Also his body was formed by his insect familiars.

His soul must be contained in his familiars in order to do something like this, and from what it seems, he found a way to extend his life for a long time. By the personality that Rider described, he was surely consuming other people.

But, most importantly, what are his goals? You don't just extend your life for no reason. The more logical option would be the magus' primary goal, to reach the Root, but that doesn't seem to quite add up here.

If you were looking for that, you should have used another method to extend your life, one that didn't wear out and deteriorate so much. The problem with these other alternatives is that you often abandon your humanity, such as becoming a dead apostle. So, I can assume that Zouken doesn't want to lose his humanity.

But that raises even more questions, and there's still the other question, why is he doing THAT to his granddaughter?

I'll have to confront him directly to solve all those questions.

I spent the night making plans to face the old Matou. The next day there was school as normal. Apparently, most students and teachers recovered quickly. That was a relief.

Before going to class, Rin found Shirou and asked him to check if his friend Issei was Caster's master. He was a little reluctant at first, but eventually gave in.

The day passed without incident. The only thing to stand out was Rider's ex-master missed classes. Rin scolded me a little bit again for what I did to him, but I really, although I admitted that it got a little out of hand on purpose, I didn't go with everything. If I had, the boy would probably have to be sent to a clinic for disturbed.

When school was over, Rin said she wanted to check something out and we left immediately, without waiting for Shirou.

What struck me was that we were heading towards the foreign district.

_"Where are we going, Rin?"_ I asked her through our link.

_"To visit Sakura. The girl with purple hair we've met several times."_ She casually replied.

_"I know who she are. But why? Shouldn't we have waited for Shirou to receive his report?"_

_"He'll be fine, he can give it to me first thing in the morning. Let's just say I've known Sakura for quite some time. She skipped school today, so I'm worried about her."_

I remained silent and let it be, but his response made me suspicious.

Finally, the Matou residence appeared at the bottom of the street. It was a Western style residence, just like Tohsaka's, and it looked like a very old building.

As we approached, we could see a person standing in front of the house, watching her with his hands in his pockets. Rin stopped and hid behind the corner of an alley to watch him. It was the same blond man we found the first night talking to Sakura.

"What's that guy doing looking at Sakura's house?" Rin wondered quietly for herself.

My eyes narrowed as I watched him. With all that has happened these days, I practically forgot about him. Come to think of it, the guy was undoubtedly a servant, but I've already met all the servants of the Holy Grail War. An eighth servant? That doesn't make sense. His existence was all an enigma.

"Tohsaka, what are you doing here?" Suddenly Shirou came up behind us, and Rin immediately shoved him into the alley so the guy wouldn't find out.

hirou was surprised to see himself suddenly pressed against the wall of the alley, but he understood the situation when Rin showed him the blond guy.

We spent a few minutes watching him, until the man decided to leave. He walked past us without doing anything, but I'd say he deliberately ignored us.

The two masters came out of the alley, and then Rin seemed to realize that it was Shirou who was with her. She walked away from him and pointed a finger at him.

"What are you doing here!"

"That's what I want to ask you." Hearing Shirou's answer, Rin smiled maliciously. "What's with that wicked smile?" Shirou seemed a little scared, and I don't blame him.

"Nothing. But I see... you care more about the "kuohai" that helps you whenever you find the teacher... I think I'm beginning to understand you Emiya-kun." Okay, now I'm lost. I guess by "kuohai" you mean Sakura, but does that mean Shirou is also somehow related to her?

"Don't talk nonsense. I went to get you to tell you about Issei, but you were gone." That makes more sense.

"What?"

"Issei doesn't seem to be related to this." "Have you already investigated Emiya-kun?"

"Yes, issei is not a master. If you don't trust me, then do what you want."

"What? No, I do trust you. I know you're not a liar. If you say so, Issei is innocent." Seeing Rin express her true feelings was strange. It seems that these two are already intimate.

"But how did you check?"

"It's clear, undressing him. I took his shirt off and saw if he had command seals." The seriousness of Shirou did not agree with what he had just said. Rin made a rather complicated face to describe, and I even raised an eyebrow even though I knew he couldn't see me.

"Tohsaka, so what were you doing here?" At least he changed the subject quickly.

"I was worried about Sakura too... I know her, so..."

"Fuji says she's being discharged today. She might be at home already."

"I see..." It looked like Rin had taken a huge weight off her. Did she care about her that much?

She turned and started walking home. I followed her.

"Tohsaka, are you leaving?" Shirou looked a couple times between Rin and the Matou residence, but ended up following Rin.

She stopped suddenly and spoke to Shirou from behind. "I want to ask you something."

"Go ahead, what is it?"

"It's just an assumption, but... if you gave a child up for adoption to another family without the child having a voice or a vote... How would it grow up? What would it feel like?" Rin's expression darkened as she asked the question.

Shirou was thoughtful, until Rin caught his eye.

"I think it is useless to ask what he will feel. If the host family is good, he will have no complaints. If it is bad, he will have them, don't you think?" Shirou sincerely answered what he thought. Besides, it was pretty much the same as I thought.

"Sure, I guess so. Why did I ask such an obvious question?"

After that, Rin seemed to return to her normal self, and both teachers resumed their walk home.

"Tomorrow at school let's exchange ideas to find Caster's master."

"Okay."

And with that, they both said goodbye and separated to go to their respective homes. By this point, it was safe to say that Rin had forgotten that I was with her.

"Hey Rin, I'm still here." My voice even startled her a little.

"Oh, Archer, it's true, you came with me. Is there something you want to tell me?"

"Nothing. I was just a little surprised that you'll consult Saber's Master before me."

Hearing me, Rin put on her wicked smile again, and I knew I'd dug my own grave.

"Hoho, are you jealous, Archer?"

I gave a long sigh and resisted the temptation to make a facepalm. "Never mind. Anyway, the answer I would have given you would have been very similar."

Although I tried to wrap it up, Rin kept mocking me until we got home.

The day ended without much progress on the subject of Caster's master, but at least I got a glimpse of the Matou residence, and the conversation between Shirou and Rin was quite enlightening. Now I'm starting to get a complete picture of what's going on here.

* * *

**And that's all for now. We already have King of Fakers' first target to save, Sakura. Everyone's favorite kouhai that is left out on the first two routes, this time King of Fakers will make sure to get her out of that hell. As Archer already said in the first chapter, he's going to save all.**

**As for the changes in the original plot, Caster was busy healing her chest wound and being unable to attend Kuzuki, he did not attend school, and left the relatives she had already prepared in school on autopilot. Shirou does not use a command seal, Rider does not die and is now linked back to her true master, and Archer is already giving Shirou advice to start getting stronger.**

**The fight against Rider could not be otherwise than unilateral. Archer's parameters are about the same level as those of Saber with Shirou as hier master, and the fight between Rider and Saber at the beginning of Heaven's Feel lasts seconds. To lengthen it, Archer would have to hold back, and with so many lives at stake, that was not possible. The scene where Archer tells a little about him to Rin, she's shocked because she's starting to see that Archer is the representation of the road Shirou wants to follow. Originally, I wanted to include the part where Caster's teacher was cornered, but the chapter was getting longer.**

**Without much more to say, as I always appreciate the follows, favs and any kind of constructive review. I would also like to know what you think of this chapter or if anyone has any questions.**

**With this I say goodbye for now, until we meet again.**


	5. Chapter 4

**Hey people, we see each other again. This came a little later than expected due to local parties and the start of college. But finally, here's the next chapter of this story. As the last thing I want to comment on is that this story went beyond the 50 favs and Follows barrier. I thank all the people who read and support this story. And as a reward, at the end of this chapter there is a surprise.**

**Without further ado, let the chapter begin.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any right over Type-Moon or Fate franchise.**

* * *

_"His body is made out of swords."_

_"His blood is of iron and his heart is of glass."_

_"He has overcome countless battlefields."_

_"Not even once retreating."_

_"Not even once understood."_

_"The hero lies here alone, forging dreams on a hill of swords."_

_"Thus, his life needs no meaning."_

_"His body is made out of infinite swords."_

_At the top of that hill, you could see the same tall man with white hair. This time, his combat suit was shattered everywhere, and his body was filled with horrible wounds. From these came out swords, in a desperate attempt to close them, but it was in vain. There was no doubt that the man was about to die, it was surprising that he was still standing._

_His hand was holding the hilt of a sword. This one looked like a simple sword of standard design and size, without any ornament. But, its warm golden light lit the hill, clearing the rust mist scattered throughout the place and bringing it back to life._

_Still, what seemed most out of place was the man's expression. On his face was a beautiful and genuine smile. Although he was about to die, the man had no regrets. It seemed that he too had been saved._

The alarm clock rang, waking Rin from her eyes slowly opened, and she used her left arm to cover them with the light coming through the window. Her expression became a little sad as she remembered the dream she had.

"So that's how his life ended. He died alone, sacrificing himself to save everyone else, and with a stupid smile on his face. What a fool..."

She remained thoughtful for a few moments looking at the ceiling, until she finally decided to get up and start lazily walking towards the dining room.

* * *

I spent the night again thinking of more plans on how to face old Matou. In the end, I ended up opting for a simple and straightforward plan. I just need to meet with Rider to work out the details and figure out the time to get it going.

At the same time as always, Rin woke up, came to the dining room for breakfast and prepared to go to school. During breakfast she did not speak to me, and from time to time she glanced at me sideways and when our eyes coincided, she looked away.

That was quite strange. She was usually who begins discussions about the plan for the day.

There were still ten minutes left to go, and Rin was taking her tea quietly in the meantime. Since she wasn't going to start the conversation, I decided to start it myself.

"Rin, do you have any other possible suspects to be Caster's master?"

When she heard me, she left the cup of tea on the table and closed her eyes while thinking. "I'm afraid not. We'll have to ask Emiya-kun."

The conversation stopped there and Rin picked up the tea cup again to finish it. I guess there's nothing else we can do. But it still seems strange to me that she is so quiet this morning.

"Is there something wrong Rin?" I decided to question her bluntly.

"Huh? What do you mean Archer?" She replied by squinting her eyes. There was no doubt that she was playing clueless.

"You've been strange ever since you woke up. You're usually not so... quiet."

She was a little surprised by my response, but immediately moved on to her malicious smile. "Oh, do you notice me so much, Archer?"

I kept my expression serious so as not to fall into her trap. "I'm serious, Rin."

She finally returned to her normal expression and gave the look. "Of course something happens to me if you show me that nonsense." Her answer came out as a whisper, and I could barely understand it.

"Anyway, we should go now or I'll be late." After saying that, she took her red coat and left without waiting for me.

I sighed and entered in spiritual form to follow her. I feel that as time passes, I understand her less and less.

Back at school, Rin seemed to return to her normal self. At lunchtime, she went to Shirou's class to invite him to lunch with her, but he wasn't there.

So, Rin went to the next most likely place Shirou would be at this hour, the student council room.

Already there, Rin was about to enter the room, but she stopped to hear the conversation. Shirou and the president of the student council were talking about the teacher called Souichirou Kuzuki, and apparently he also lived in Ryuudouji Temple.

When the conversation stopped, Rin went into the room slamming the door and interrogated the boy as to whether anything strange had happened in the Temple lately. Between her and Shirou they were able to get him out that Kuzuki had brought a mysterious woman to the Temple saying that they would soon be married.

Suspicious, very suspicious. Although it might have been a coincidence, The probability was very small.

After finishing interrogating the poor boy, Rin took Shirou to the roof to have lunch and talk about this discovery.

"It's clear." Rin said.

"Remember about Issei, I don't think because he lives in Ryuudouji Temple we should doubt him." Shirou replied, still somewhat reluctant to believe that man was Caster's master.

"Why? Such a suspicious fellow must be a master. And his fiancée is Caster. There is no doubt about it. We will prepare it tonight! Be ready for you too, Emiya-kun."

"Wait a minute, tonight!"

"Of course. We are not sure that Kuzuki-sensei will return to school tomorrow. We will check whether he is a master or not."

"How are we gonna check it?"

Then Rin pointed to Shirou with her hand imitating the shape of a gun. "I'll just shoot him a light Gandr. Thus, even if Kuzuki-sensei is a normal person, he should only rest for a couple of days as if it were an ordinary cold." That was a pretty effective plan.

"But that could also cause problems. If Kuzuki is a master, we would fight right there and we couldn't talk to him."

"Better yet. Where do you see the problem?"

Shirou turned to look away and put his left hand on his neck. "I mean, if that happens, you'll be in danger, Tohsaka."

Rin blushed slightly upon hearing Shirou's concern, and at that moment I decided to intervene in the conversation.

I materialized beside her with my arms crossed beside Rin. "That's what I'm for. If things get ugly, I'll make sure Rin is safe."

Both masters were a little surprised by my sudden appearance but relaxed at the moment.

Despite what I said, Shirou was still a little worried, and Rin decided to take advantage of it.

"Okay. I can do it myself." She said as she turned to leave the place.

Shirou finally gave in and put his hand on his face. "Gosh... okay, I'll go with you."

The rest of the day went by with nothing to stand out, and we waited for the night at the place we designated for the ambush. It was an abandoned gas station on a road on the slope of Mount Enzo.

As we waited for Shirou and Saber to arrive, Rin began to prepare a delimited field to soundproof the place in case a fight started. To lighten things up a bit, I asked Rin if this Kuzuki was the history teacher. It turned out to be, and our suspicions were practically confirmed.

It was already too coincidental for him to be absent on the exact same day Shinji activated the bounded field and Caster was incapacitated.

It was already dark when Shirou and his servant arrived. According to him, an acquaintance of his had just told him on the phone that our suspect was still at school.

Now we already knew that man would inevitably have to pass through here to return to the temple. All that remained was to wait.

Meanwhile, Rin explained to them about the bounded field she had prepared and we reviewed what each would do. Rin and Shirou would hide inside what was the gas station store and Rin would fire the Gandr through one of the windows. Saber would hide among the trees on the other side of the road, ready to attack the man if he turned out to be hostile.

"And what will you do, Archer? Will you provide support from afar?" Saber asked me when she realized that I said nothing.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible this time. Unlike in Shinto, there aren't many tall buildings here I can get a clear view of this place from. Although I do not think my intervention is so necessary. He will be outnumbered by two magus and two servants. I suppose I'll watch from the trees and intervene if necessary."

Saber nodded, and then we heard Shirou, who was watching the road here.

"Tohsaka, it seems he's here."

I turned around to check, and he was right. Going up the side of the road, I could see a middle aged man wearing a formal suit consisting of a green jacket and pants, a white shirt and a black tie. His hair was black and his eyes brown. He wore glasses and wore an umbrella to cover the snowflakes that had started falling since sundown.

In short, the man seemed a completely ordinary person. But, we cannot trust that either. Experience has taught me that appearances deceive, especially when it comes to magus.

I immediately entered into spiritual form and we all positioned ourselves accordingly.

When the man was already passing by the gas station, Rin shot the Gandr.

The moment it was going to hit, Caster appeared in front of the professor and deflected the projectile with her hand, causing it to hit the umbrella and burn it.

Well, I don't think we need any more evidence.

Master and servant spoke to each other for a few moments and the teacher took off his glasses. After that, Caster approached the gas station store.

"Get out of there, you fool magus. I will give you three seconds, then I will give you back what you did." After saying that, she reached out her arm and prepared to throw one of her prana beams.

Hardly a second passed, and Shirou came out of hiding armed with a reinforced stick, and a expression of determination. Most people would call him stupid, but I can get a sense of what he's thinking.

Caster looked at him a little surprised and lowered her arm. "What a surprise. Looks like you've become more insightful, haven't you, boy?"

"Tohsaka and Emiya... So Matou wasn't the only master, you too. To be magus, how lucky." Caster's master commented in a flat tone.

"Kuzuki, is Caster controlling you?" Shirou asked bluntly.

"What an annoying boy, I'll have to kill you." Caster seemed offended by Shirou's question, just like when I mentioned it the first time I met her.

"Wait." Kuzuki stopped Caster. "Why did you come up with that question, Emiya? Doubts arise for a reason. Go ahead, say it."

"You're a decent person. You can't be letting Caster do what she does."

"What Caster does?"

From the sound of it, it seemed that the man did not really know what his servant was doing, and Shirou proceeded to explain it to him.

"Caster is gathering energy she steals from the people of this city. To her, humans are just sacrifices. If it goes on like this, someone will eventually die. And it won't be long before it's too late."

"I see. You thought that as her master, I allowed Caster's acts because she was controlling me."

"Yes. And if so, we'll just take down Caster. If you let Caster act on her own terms knowing everything, you're just a murderer. Then I won't hold back."

Several seconds of tense silence passed, until Kuzuki replied.

"This is the first time I hear anything about this." Shirou was glad to hear that, but his smile faded as he heard what Kuzuki said next.

"But Emiya... are Caster's actions so bad?"

"What did you say?"

"All possible strangers can die, they have nothing to do with me. Just as they don't care whether I live or not."

"Kuzuki... As a magus, do you intend to involve normal people!?" Shirou was angry at his response.

"I am not a magus. I am only a homicidal in decline. The Holy Grail War does not concern me. I will simply watch while Caster murders and you kill each other. I will take no responsibility for your battles, and you shall not feel responsible for my life. Caster, do as you please. You're free to kill them or leave them alive."

His tone remained flat and emotionless throughout his speech. Really, this guy didn't care much about his life or anyone else's. Through his empty eyes, I could get a sense of what led him to that state.

To my surprise, it was Saber who first lost her temper. "So you don't mind dying here, do you, Caster's master?" Her voice came out in a cold, yet authoritative tone.

Taking that as a sign, Rin ran out of hiding and threw a blue gem at Caster. This one covered herself with a kind of barrier, and the gem exploded on contact with it, creating a smokescreen around it.

"Saber!"

Without wasting time, the servant of the sword emerged from the trees, with her invisible sword and magic armor already equipped, and hurled herself toward the master of Caster.

Caster tried to stop her by throwing several prana rays, but Saber's magical resistance was so high they couldn't even scratch her.

In an instant, Saber stood in front of Caster's master and threw a horizontal cut at him with the intention of split him in two.

But she made a mistake. Her attack was too slow, it could practically be seen without the need for improved senses. She held back, and she paid dearly.

Kuzuki, showing a speed and reflexes far superior to what would be expected of a normal human, caught the Saber's sword between his elbow and his knee. Saber as well as our master were paralyzed with wonder.

"You underestimated me, Saber!"

The two separated, and Kuzuki ran at almost the same speed as a servant to position himself on Saber's back. This caught Saber by surprise, and she could not dodge the blow Kuzuki threw at her neck.

Saber stumbled a few steps forward and faced her opponent again. The blow had left her somewhat dazed and disoriented, and she was struggling to pull herself together.

Caster's master approached Saber again. His body shone with a faint purple light, revealing the mystery. His body had been reinforced to the limits by Caster.

Then, he began to throw attacks with his fists at great speed. His fighting style was a little confusing. His attacks slid through unexpected angles to get through the opponent's guard, imitating a snake. Saber could barely dodge them.

"You dodge a lot, huh? So you don't have good vision, but good intuition." Surprisingly, the man managed to easily glimpse the ability of Saber that allowed her to dodge even the attacks she could not see.

In the end, one of Kuzuki's attacks landed on Saber's man, dislocating his left arm. Without giving her time to put her arm in place, Caster's master grabbed Saber by the neck and began to strangle her.

Saber tried to get away by attacking him with a descending swing of her sword, but her opponent avoided it by stepping aside and throwing her into the gas station. The servant crashed against the wall of the tent and was knocked out.

"Saber!" Her master shouted with concern at seeing his servant in that state.

In the face of such a scene, I could do nothing but sigh. I know I don't go with everything from the beginning when I fight, but that's because I try to give my opponent a chance to redeem himself. If your intention is to kill the enemy in one blow, you can't hold back like Saber just did. I thought she'd stop holding back after what happened with Assassin, but I see that's not true.

"You may think masters are there to cover the rear if you want, but there are exceptions. There are masters who only serve in the front, as I do." Caster's master stated in his usual flat tone.

"Master..."

"What's the matter, Caster?"

"I'll take care of Saber. You deal with the remaining masters."

"Go."

Luckily, it seems they didn't notice me. I suppose it was time for me to intervene, but I found myself debating who, the two master or Saber.

At first, I decided to help Rin and Shirou. Both were quickly overwhelmed by Caster's master. Rin was knocked out by a quick hit from Kuzuki, and Shirou was being beaten.

But when I was about to materialize myself, my eyes caught the dagger that Caster materialized in her hand. It was a blunt dagger, with a twisted shape and iridescent color. But what alarmed me most was what it could do. I can't let that dagger touch Saber, otherwise we'll be screwed. Shirou could hold out a little longer if he reinforced himself.

I materialized between the two servants, with Kanshou and Bakuya already traced in my hands, and deflected the dagger before it was too late.

"Archer!" Caster shouted in surprise and distanced herself from me.

"Saber! Don't let that dagger touch you, it is able to cut any magic contract." Hopefully, she wasn't unconscious and would get my warning.

Caster's eyes opened as she heard me unravel the capacity of her noble phantasm at a glance. And I decided to use her moment of surprise to narrow the gap between us. Bakuya was already being directed down Caster's throat when I was suddenly stopped when I heard some very familiar words.

"Trace on!"

Both Caster and I turned to see in the direction of the voice, to see Shirou screaming in pain. His arms were stretched sideways, his hands ready to grasp a pair of handles. The prana came out of his body in an uncontrolled way, and little by little, it condensed and took shape.

Kuzuki did not stand and stare, and hurled himself toward Shirou with the intention of finishing him before he finished what he was doing. But it was too late.

A pair of Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in Shirou's hands, and imitating my movements and fighting style, parried and countered all attacks by Caster's master. After a few moments of exchange, Shirou managed to repel his opponent.

Kuzuki looked at his hands. They were bleeding, but they had no engraved wounds thanks to Caster's reinforcement. Regardless, he returned to his posture.

Shirou imitated one of my postures. His body trembled with stress and pain, and the prana kept coming out of his body uncontrolled.

I looked at him astonished. The boy had just used the tracing, the magecraft that I always thought was unique to me. And besides, that also implied that the boy had also developed a reality marble.

My instincts began to alarm me in my head, and I immediately looked back at Caster. This one had a wicked smile, and she was about to stab me with her dagger. I tried to deflect it with my swords, but it was already too late, even if I had struck her dagger, it would be so close that it would get to touch me anyway.

Then my salvation came in the form of an invisible sword that cast aside Caster's noble Phantasm and forced her to leave the store.

"Archer, you shouldn't be distracted in the middle of the fight." Saber scolded me and left the store.

Before Saber cut off her master, Caster caught him flying away with her coat extended in the form of wings.

I left the gas station, with my bow and a nameless E rank noble phantasm in my hands, and immediately I started shooting Caster. In response, she fired several prana rays that hit my "arrows" and destroyed them.

I didn't mean to let Caster escape again. I traced Hrunting in my right hand and altered it to shoot her, but I stopped to see her master. If I shot now, Caster's master would die too.

"Tsk." I reluctantly let Hrunting dissipate along with my bow. At the same time, Caster and her master disappeared, leaving behind prana butterflies. They surely returned to Ryuudouji temple.

I turned to look at the others present. Shirou was panting on his knees and Saber approached him to check on him. Rin, who had already recovered, was still looking where Caster and Kuzuki had disappeared.

"We blew it. Now Kuzuki will no longer leave Ryuudouji Temple." She said downcast.

"So you intend to surrender and stop chasing Caster, Rin?" Saber asked you that.

"No way! We can't let Caster go!"

"Of course not." Shirou said after catching his breath, as the pair of married swords in his hands dissipated.

Rin observed ir, but she turned to look at me. "By the way, Archer, why didn't you shoot that last arrow?"

"If I had, both Caster and her master would have died." My answer surprised them.

"And...? Isn't that what we wanted?" Rin asked me, although she seemed to already know my answer.

"I would prefer to avoid unnecessary deaths. If we can kill Caster without having to kill her master, that would be better. He can't be blamed for what Caster does."

When he heard me, Rin stared at me with a face of... concern? I don't know why she was looking at me like that, but then Shirou burst into the conversation.

"Even if he's not to blame for what Caster does, he still lets her do it. He's also a murderer we have to stop!"

"You're wrong, he's innocent." I answered him bluntly. "Those eyes... are the eyes of someone who's seen the worst the world has to offer. I don't know what happened to him to end up like this, but I know if it wasn't for Caster, he'd still be working as a teacher, trying to redeem himself from his past."

After my speech, Shirou became thoughtful, trying to assimilate what I told him.

Then, it was Saber who asked me another question. "So why did you stop when you were about to finish Caster?"

Well, that's a tricky subject. I can't tell they that I was surprised to see Shirou use exactly the same magecraft as me, which involves possessing a reality marble. I will have to use a half truth.

"I was surprised to see that your master projected my swords. It's not every day you see someone projecting a noble phantasm." Saber didn't seem to buy it at all, but let it go. Then, Rin reacted to something I said.

"Wait, Archer. You said he projected them. Is that true, Emiya-kun?"

Shirou seemed to shrink a bit under Rin's gaze. "Well, yes..."

"Weren't you supposed to only be able to use reinforcement?"

"That's true. But the first magecraft I performed was the projection."

"You didn't even mention that. So, it's not the first time you used projection, is it?"

"I guess not. But even though I could imitate things, they were always empty inside. That's why I surprised myself."

"So you learned projection before the reinforcement..." Rin started to walk around as she thougth about it.

"That was all I could do. Kiritsugu told me it would be useless for me and to focus on the reinforcement."

"Well, I would have told you the same thing. But it's strange..." Rin seemed to pick it up as well.

Shirou's problem with the magecraft was identical to mine. What I miss here was his improvement curve. He went from projecting empty objects to an imperfect copy of a noble phantasm, without having been practicing that magecraft for a long time. It took me several years of daily practice to reach that level.

"Tohsaka?"

"Let's go." With nothing else to do, Rin decided it was time to go.

Shirou tried to get up, but he stopped and grimaced.

"Shirou!?" Saber approached him worried, but Shirou rejected her saying he was fine.

* * *

When we arrived at the Tohsaka residence, Rin had dinner and went to sleep early. That gave me the opportunity I needed.

After making sure that Rin had fallen asleep deeply, I went quietly in spiritual form to the Matou residence.

I found an alley in the back of the dorm where nobody was. I materialized there, let my presence as a servant flow and waited for Rider to pick up the signal. It was risky as it might end up coming another servant, but it was the best I could think of.

Luckily, after waiting about five minutes, Rider materialized in front of me.

"I see you didn't forget our deal. Well, we have a lot to talk about."

She just nodded and I went on. "Tell me, has Zouken made any moves since you're once again linked to your true master?"

"No. It seems the old worm gave up this war and allowed Sakura to do whatever she wanted."

"I see. So what does she plan to do about the Holy Grail War?"

Rider remained silent for a few moments, thinking about whether to answer me or not, but ended up doing so.

"She has no intention of fighting in the war. She doesn't want to have to hurt her acquaintances." I assumed so.

"And what about Shinji? Has he tried again to make you his servant?"

"The boy was missing for a day, then returned home accompanied by a strange blond man. According to what he told the old man, he went to church and the supervisor let him make a contract with another servant."

Well, that explained why the blond guy was watching the Matou residence, but it raised even more questions. How could the supervisor summon another servant and give it to the boy? And how does Shinji provides him without having magical circuits? I left the subject to think about later and continued the conversation.

"One last question. Do you think Zouken is affected by the sacred element?"

The question caught her a bit by surprise, but she responded quickly. "In the rotten state he is in, I would say yes."

I nodded in understanding. With that confirmed, my plan was already complete.

"Do you have anything planned to deal with the old worm yet?" Rider asked me, though it seemed more like a statement.

"Yes. I just have to find the time to get it going without my master knowing. I'll let you know in advance."

"Will you need my assistance to carry it out?"

I took a hand to my chin while I went over the plan. "I'll need you to take Sakura out of the residence while I face Zouken. We can make it look like I came to end our fight and you run away with her to keep her safe.."

She nodded and asked no more questions. After that, we each to our respective residences.

* * *

The next day I accompanied Rin to school as usual.

Because it was Saturday, classes ended at lunchtime. Rin went to the student council hall to wait for Shirou and exchange information. It was funny to see the student council president looking at her nervous and sweating.

After half an hour, Shirou didn't show up and Rin started getting upset. Without saying anything, she left school at a fast pace towards the Emiya residence.

When we arrived, Rin began to ring the bell several times. Soon after, Shirou opened the door, stared at her for a few seconds, and then closed it again. I had to try hard to contain my laughter.

Then Rin's expression turned to one of frustration and anger, and she opened the door abruptly, surprising Shirou.

"To- Tohsaka! What...!?"

"I came because you forgot about our regular meeting, Emiya-kun."

"Well, it's true I forgot to pick you up, but..." He turned and lowered his tone so Rin wouldn't hear him. "First of all, since when did we establish that?" Although it was a futile attempt since she heard it anyway, and made a scary face.

Shirou reacted upon seeing her and immediately apologized. "I'm sorry. I apologize for forgetting."

"It is the duty of the allies to periodically exchange information. We can take this opportunity to meet here." After saying that, Rin came into the house without even waiting for Shirou's opinion.

"What!? Wa-wait! Now we were going to have lunch."

"Well perfect. I haven't eaten yet, so make me something." She replied casually and winked at him.

"Hey..." Shirou blushed a bit and stared at her as she entered his house.

As it felt wrong to enter the house without saying anything, I decided to materialize beside Shirou, without my red coat and combat boots.

"Well... excuse me." I managed to say uncomfortably and entered the house behind Rin.

"You too, Archer!?"

That was the first time I ate since I was summoned. I must admit it was very delicious, the boy had a talent for cooking.

After lunch, we spent the afternoon talking about how to attack Caster in her territory, although the conversation was practically led by Saber and Rin.

It was six o'clock in the afternoon, and we couldn't agree on a plan. Shirou tried to get Rin to go home, but she managed to convince him to stay for dinner on the pretext of making plans to beat Caster.

By dinnertime, Shirou's "caretaker" Fujimura Taiga arrived on her moped. She was a pretty energetic woman with short light brown hair, and eyes of the same color.

Although she opposed it at first, Rin also managed to persuade her to stay for dinner with the excuse of studying for exams. I don't know how she does it, but her powers of persuasion are terrifying, and she wasn't using any hypnosis magecraft.

Of course, I was already in spiritual form.

Rin offered to wash the dishes after dinner, claiming that if she just let them invite her, it would be unbalanced, but Shirou turned her down and started doing it himself.

I've been noticing it since I got here. Shirou's movements were somewhat rigid, though he concealed it quite well, and occasionally his left arm trembled. Something wasn't right with him, and it proved when Shirou accidentally dropped some dishes on the floor.

Rin asked Fujimura if that was normal, but she replied that it was the first time he broke a dish.

In the end, Rin finished washing the dishes and Shirou went to take a bath to rest.

When she finished, she went out into the inner courtyard of the house to observe the bounded field surrounding the residence. Just after that, Shirou came out of the bathroom and they both started talking about magus and why Rin was going to school.

I would have left to leave them alone, except Rin had a little slip while talking about her inheritance as Magus. "Maybe that's why I was chosen as heir." The phrase implied that Rin's parents chose her to be heir over someone else. But that didn't make sense. Although I checked the entire Tohsaka residence, I didn't find a single piece of evidence that Rin has a brother or sister.

My theory of the true relation between Rin and Sakura was beginning to fit.

While thinking about it, the conversation came to the question of why Shirou decided to practice magecraft. The reason was, as I expected, the same as mine, so that he could help others.

That seemed to upset Rin somehow and ended up leaving him, promising that tomorrow he would try something special.

After that, she asked me to bring her from her home everything necessary to spend the night there. How she came to that conclusion is a mystery to me.

When she settled in one of the Western rooms, she set out to sleep. But before that, I decided to ask her what he planned to do tomorrow.

"I'll take Shirou on a date with me." She answered me with sheer determination.

"Huh?" Before the unknown term I could not do more than bow my head to the side.

She looked at me surprised, until her eyes opened in understanding and pointed at me in an accusatory manner.

"It cannot be. Archer, don't tell me you... don't know what a date is."

"Well... it's not something that was in the knowledge that the Holy Grail gave me."

At my answer, Rin laughed out of control. After she calmed down a bit, she explained to me that she would basically spend the day with Shirou going around town to get him to have fun for once.

The concept was still a little strange to me, but I managed to understand it... more or less.

Rin went to sleep, and then the realization came to me. This was my chance. If they were going on that date tomorrow, then I could put in place my plan to save Sakura

Immediately, I set out to inform Rider, but as I stepped out into the inner courtyard I met Shirou and Saber inside the shed. They were both talking about what was happening to Shirou's body.

I guess informing Rider can wait.

Before entering the shed, Saber realized my presence and turned to face me.

"Archer, why have you come here?"

"I came to see if I could lend a hand." I looked at Shirou to speak to him directly. "I noticed something was wrong with your body. It's probably a side effect of the magecraft you used yesterday. If you let me examine you, maybe I can help you."

They both looked at me with a little suspicion, but ended up agreeing.

Shirou sat down in front of me, with his back turned and his shirt off. I put a hand on his back and used structural grasp on his body to see the state of his magical circuits.

That... that explained a lot of things. I found out why the boy healed his wounds so quickly, or rather, what caused it. I could not help but look sideways at Saber, who kept watching me with caution. Did she know about this? I'd say no, but she may have been faking it so far and it's her real trump card.

I left it to think about another time and concentrated on the magic circuits.

"As I supposed." I murmured to myself.

"You know what's going on, Archer?" She asked me to know, and Shirou turned his head so he could look at me.

"How to explain this in a simple and understandable way..." I spent a few moments thinking about how to explain it. "Let's say your magic circuits were 'overloaded' by trying to use them suddenly after being inactive for a long time."

"I see... Wait, you said I have magic circuits?" Although it seemed that Saber had understood it, Shirou surprised me with a question that heightened my suspicions.

"Emiya-" I was going to question him but he interrupted me suddenly.

"There's no need for you to call me by my last name. You can call me Shirou." That took me a little by surprise. For someone who doesn't even remember his name, I find this surname thing tedious sometimes.

"Shirou then. I'm going to ask you a very important question, and I want you to answer it in all honesty."

He nodded, although he got a little nervous at my deathly serious tone.

"How were you supposed to practice magecraft with your circuits closed?"

The question did not seem to make Shirou react, but Saber did understand my implications and made a face full of concern.

"My father taught me that I had to create a magic circuit from a nerve every time I wanted to practice magecraft. Is there a problem with that?" He responded casually, and I could not help but breathe a sigh of exasperation.

"Yes. There is, and a very big one. What your father taught you is a very effective way to get crippled, at best. You have 27 natural magic circuits of average quality, although they are a little degraded due to so long without using them. That's more than enough for you to perform magecraft. Don't ever try to do that crazy thing again, you've been lucky to stay intact until now."

Shirou took a few moments to assimilate the sermon I gave him. He seemed a little conflicted, but in the end he understood. If it wasn't for the relic inside his body, there's no doubt he would have died a long time ago.

"So, can you do anything to solve Shirou's problem?" Saber asked me back to the current topic.

"As for that..." I pressed my fingers against Shirou's back and forced my prana through Shirou's circuits. I kind of imitated what my dad did when he first opened my magic circuits, and it worked. His circuits opened wide, and Shirou trembled with pain.

"Your circuits should now be fully operational, and you should get your mobility back intact. With a little rest, you can practice magecraft again. You will notice that it will now be practically painless compared to your previous method, and it will be much more effective."

With the matter settled, I got up and turned to leave.

"Sure you know a lot, don't you, Archer?" Saber told me as I passed by.

I stopped to answer "It's basic knowledge. Anyone who knows about magecraft should know."

I walked back out of the shed, but this time I was stopped by Shirou.

"Wait, Archer. I want to ask you something."

I turned to look at him, and gestured for him to continue.

"What do you mean your goal is to save everyone?"

That was a complicated question to answer whether to reveal anything about my identity or my true purpose. Although, from the way Saber reacted to the question, it looks like she's starting to get a sense of who I am.

"I meant exactly that. I don't fight for the Grail. I fight to protect innocent people from this pointless bloodbath." I ended up resorting to the half truth again.

"Then, why did you kill Shinji's servant without thinking twice? Isn't that supposed to go against your target?"

I couldn't deny that was true, even if Rider's death was just a cover.

"Sometimes, even if I don't like it, there's no choice but to sacrifice someone to save others. Saving everyone is something almost impossible in most situations. That's something that experience taught me. If you want to follow that ideal, you have to be prepared to meet people who just don't want to be saved. That is the sad reality."

My answer left both thoughtful. I set out to leave, but for some reason, you could say I had a bad taste in my mouth. I stopped right at the door of the shed.

"But, that doesn't mean that saving everyone is completely impossible. If you follow your ideals to the end, maybe someday you will achieve it, Emiya Shirou."

After I said that, I went into spiritual form and set out to meet Rider.

* * *

**And that's all for now. Here we have the revelation of the master of Caster, that at last I will not have to write so many times 'Caster's master', the first time Shirou uses the tracing, more EX rank density and a first talk about ideals between King of Fakers and Shirou.**

**As for the issue of the magecraft and the circuits of Shirou, well, I don't know how they address it in the visual novel, but in the anime was hardly touched. So, Archer took the trouble to explain to Shirou in a simple and summary way how to make things right, and in the process he discovered Avalon.**

**Now as for the beginning of the chapter, since when Rin dreams of EMIYA's past, what she hears is the Japanese version of his aria, I decided it would be the same with King of Fakers. Sure, I don't know Japanese, so I did the aria based on the literal English version of UBW Shirou. That's where a problem arose. 'unaware of loss, no aware of gain' is supposed to mean 'not even once retreating, not even once being victorious', but in reality King of Fakers was victorious once, so it didn't add up. In the end I decided to use the Archer line as it also describes King of Fakers well.**

**And by this point, you'll be wondering: where is that surprise you promised at the beginning of the chapter? And then you'll realize that I read your mind and you'll open your eyes as the background behind you shifts to a flashy color palette, creating between the two a nice reference to Jojo.**

**Now, out of jokes, the surprise is that the next chapter is almost over, so it'll come out in a few days.**

**Without much more to say, as always, I appreciate the follows, favs and any kind of constructive review. I would also like to know what you think of this chapter or if anyone has any questions.**

**With this I say goodbye for now, until we meet again.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hey people, we meet again. Here I bring you the next chapter of this story, and what would be considered the second part of the pseudo-special for the 50 favs and follows. This chapter, taking a little away from the beginning and the end, is practically original. With this chapter, the mini arc of the Matou will end, and from here the good will begin.**

**Without further delay, let the chapter begin.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any right over Type-Moon or Fate franchise.**

* * *

I came to the alley and let my servant presence flow, just as I did last time.

It took Rider a little longer to get here than last time, but it wasn't something to worry about since I had time until Rin woke up.

"Has there been any remarkable occurrence today?" I started the conversation and went straight to the point.

"Nothing in particular. The blond servant seems to ignore my presence, and I doubt he cares what you do to the old worm."

I nodded in understanding. "Well. I came to inform you that tomorrow my master will be entertained for most of the day on a date with Saber's master. That will be our chance."

Hearing me, her expression seemed a little conflicted, but she nodded anyway.

"I will surround the residence with sacred swords so that Zouken cannot escape. I warned you in advance in case any unforeseen events arise. Anyway, the plan remains the same."

She nodded again, and our meeting ended.

* * *

To my surprise, when I arrived at the Emiya residence, I found Rin in the kitchen preparing some sandwiches by stealth. She told me they were for the date tomorrow and she didn't want Shirou to find out.

Then she asked me where I had been until now. I managed to get out of the way by telling her I went to patrol the area to make sure no other servant attacked us.

With the sandwiches finished, Rin went to sleep, this time for real, and I set out to inspect the residence to hang out while I waited for the next day to arrive.

Already at breakfast, Rin told Shirou about her plans. His reaction was quite funny, although I don't understand why the date thing embarrassed him so much.

The two masters and Saber dressed in their casual clothes and prepared to leave. When they were leaving through the door, they found Taiga about to leave in his moped, and after a little chat they said goodbye.

"Let's go too." Rin told the other two.

For some reason, Saber seemed more enthusiastic than Shirou.

"I guess this is where I say goodbye. You'll let me know when the date's over, Rin." I said as I materialized.

In response to what I said, Rin looked at me as if I had grown another head. "What are you talking about, Archer? You're coming, of course."

"What?" Okay, I didn't see this coming.

"You have to have fun, too. Ever since you arrived, I've only seen you smile once since I summoned you. The rest of the time you were serious, thinking about war or fighting. Today I'm going to make you show me your smile one more time."

Well... I have to think of something to get out of this. "Servants are supposed to be made for that, to fight. I don't see the need for fun when I could be doing something more productive."

Contrary to what I was looking for, Rin pouted and seemed irritated by my answer.

"That's exactly why I want you to come. You only think of others and not yourself, like this fool here. Archer, you're going to come and have fun. Also, I prepared sandwiches for you too."

I started to sweat. This was going from bad to worse.

"The point of the date is to have Shirou have fun. I don't have anything to do with it. Besides, I don't even have clothes to physically accompany you. With Saber it should be enough for you to be safe, and by day I doubt that anyone will attack you. My presence is unnecessary."

It was hard for me to keep my indifferent front as I watched Rin get angry with every sentence I ever said. At the end of my speech, her fists were narrowing.

"Why do you have to be like this, do you not see that this is for your own good!? You're coming, even if I have to use a command seal." She ended up threatening me while showing me her hand with the command seals.

I tried my luck one last time. At worst, I would have to trace Rule Breaker, Caster's noble phantasm, and undo the magic of the command seal.

"That would be a waste. We will lose one of our best resources for something irrelevant. You and Shirou, you two are the who really have to have fun. When the war is over, I will return to the throne of heroes and remember nothing of what I did here. That's why I think it's unnecessary. Besides, if you force me to go, I doubt I can have fun."

Rin seemed to burst into anger, but suddenly calmed down. "You know what. Do what you want. Let's go, Emiya-kun, Saber."

Her fringer covered her eyes, so I couldn't see her expression as she turned her back on me and left. Shirou followed her worried and Saber did, too, after giving me a look of disapproval.

I felt a little bad about what I did, but I did those feelings to one side quickly. It was necessary. Maybe, that was the best for her. If Rin ended up getting too close to me, I'll make trouble for her when I leave.

Besides, Saber will be my enemy eventually, when my goal of destroying the Holy Grail is inevitably rebelled. As for her master, that is something I cannot predict.

I cleared my mind of unnecessary thoughts and headed towards the Matou residence. Today, I am putting an end to that family's tragic story.

* * *

It took me about thirty minutes to place all the sacred swords around the house. I had to do it slowly and quietly so as not to alert the residents.

This was a method I used when I knew beforehand the lair of a dead apostle. Although the swords that I am using are not noble phantasms, it costs little to trace them, and when many come together, they can cause problems for any creature that has weakness to the sacred element.

Although I don't know if Zouken has that weakness and I'm just relying on Rider's speculation, this is just a precaution. If my plan goes well, it won't even be necessary.

Anyway, with Gaia's increasing influence on the magecraft, I figure I have a couple of hours until the swords fade.

I went to the door of the residence, with Redeemer and Retriever already traced in my hands to cut through a bounded field in case there was.

I didn't need to. I don't know if it's because there wasn't, or because I just went through with my magical resistance. I kicked the door down and slammed it in.

"Rider, I came to finish you off once and for all! Get out of your hiding and face me!"

As expected, there was no answer.

"If you don't come to me, then I will come for you!" After shouting that I ran through the house, guided by the presence of Rider.

I arrived at the door of a room on the second floor. I assumed this was the room of the girl in question.

This time I didn't break down the door, but just slammed the door open. I didn't want to leave the house a mess either. When crossing the door frame, I received a simple room, without any decoration. The only furniture in the room was a desk with a chair and a bed. Sitting on this one, Matou Sakura stood.

It was the first time I could see her face completely. And as I feared, the psychological damage at this point was very great.

Her eyes were empty, devoid of any trace of emotion, had even become the same color as her hair. When she saw me, far from reacting as anyone would when some strange guy breaks into your room, that is, getting scared or screaming, she just stares at me. Her gaze seemed more of surprise and curiosity than of fear.

Seeing her like this made me not want to attack her, but at this point, I had no choice but to follow the act.

"Ho, so you're Rider's real master." As I was talking, I started releasing murderous intent. It wasn't much, I just wanted to see if she would at least react to that.

To my relief, it did work. She got out of bed and walked backwards. Now she was at least a little scared.

I threw myself at her, swinging Redeemer in the direction of her neck. When the sword was about to reach her, Rider's chain materialized and stopped my attack.

I turned my head to look at the servant, only to see that her boot was rushing toward my face. I reinforced my arms and crossed both swords in front of me to receive the attack.

The blow came in stronger than I expected, and I ended up going through the wall behind me. I underestimated Rider's true strength now that she has a proper master.

As I recovered from the blow, I heard the voices of the girl and her servant.

"Rider?"

"Master, we have to flee. Here you are no longer safe. With my speed, we'll be able to lose Archer, even if he chases us."

I heard a sound of confirmation coming from the girl, and I felt Rider's presence recede.

With that out of the question, it was time to face Zouken.

After recovering and leaving the hole in the wall, I went down to the first floor and it didn't take long to find a passageway that led to the subway of the residence. It was safe to assume that I was driving to the Matou family workshop.

I reinforced my eyes so that I could see something in the dark and went into the passageway. It was just weird. Being the entrance of a magus workshop, one would expect to see some defense or trap, but I did not even encounter any familiar worm.

After walking a few meters down the dark corridor, I found the reason.

Standing at the end of the passage, I saw the mysterious blond man who was supposedly Shinji's new servant.

Our eyes met and he put on a smug smile. "So the Faker has finally made his move." His voice was filled with fun for some reason

I was counting on the possibility of this happening, but I didn't expect him to at least know about my magecraft.

"Are you going to get in my way? If so, I will have no choice but to cast you aside." I answered him in a deathly serious tone as I shook my eyes.

"Hum, big words for a mongrel like you. I'll forgive your insolence and I won't kill you right here, just because I'm curious what you want to do to the old worm. Your life is worth no more than that."

After saying that he walked towards me and passed by without saying anything else.

That was a relief. Although, after fighting the Primate Murder, there were few things that could intimidate me, but the enormous power the man wielded was worrying. I don't know if I could defeat him, but I do know it wouldn't be an easy fight.

I refocused on the current issue, and kept walking down the passageway until I got to the room at the end.

The place looked like catacombs. The ceiling and walls were made of stone, and the place was lit by some torches. Right in front of me, I found the pool where Zouken was torturing his "granddaughter," although it was empty at the moment.

I inspected the room with the view, but I found no trace of old Matou.

"Come out, Matou Zouken! I know you're still hiding here." It was mild, but I could feel a rather nasty presence in the room, so I decided to try my luck.

And to my surprise, it really worked. From the cracks in the walls and the floor, and some pipes scattered throughout the room, all kinds of familar insects began to emerge. Little by little, they came together at one point and took a humanoid form.

Finally, in front of me was an decrepit old with completely black eyes, dressed in green robes, and he used a cane to lean on. There was no doubt, this man, if you can still call him that, was Matou Zouken.

"My my, what do we have here? What does the Tohsaka heiress' servant want of this old man?"

His information network was good, I'll give him that.

"Rider told me what you're doing to your granddaughter. I want to know why you're doing that to that poor innocent girl. What's your goal?"

The old worm stared at me for a few moments with an indecipherable expression.

"Fine, I'll tell you. Anyway, my plan can no longer get under way." Well, I wasn't expecting that. I thought I'd have to get the information out of him, not that he'd give it to me willingly.

"I seek immortality, after all, who is not afraid of death? For this, I raised a Holy Grail apart from the Einzberns' using the pieces of the Grail destroyed in the previous War."

I didn't understand much of what she said, but I did realize that this Grail he "raised" was Sakura. That made me sick. The guy was using his "granddaughter" as nothing more than a tool to achieve his goal. The average magus at least treated their own family like people, even if they kill each other to see who will be the heir, but this guy went even further.

But there was still one question to which I had no answer.

"And what do you plan to do when you achieve immortality? I doubt you want to reach the root like any other magus. If that were the case, you would ask the Holy Grail directly."

Hearing my question, he remained silent. It seemed as if he was trying to remember the answer to the question, but he did not succeed.

"As I imagined..."

"What do you plan to do with that information, servant of Tohsaka?" The old man's voice took me out of my thoughts.

"End this whole mess, of course. I'm going to save the innocent girl you've been torturing for all these years."

"Heh, do you think I'm going to fall so easily-?" His sentence was interrupted when he heard the first verse of my aria.

"_I am the bone of my sword."_

The prana started flowing down the floor at my feet. Zouken immediately realized what I was doing, and divided his body again to attack me with his familiars.

_"Steel is my body and fire is my blood."_

Redeemer and Retriever appeared again in my hands and I began to cut off all the approaching familiars.

_"I have created more than a thousand blades."_

None of them managed to touch me. They didn't even come close. And their magecraft couldn't get through my magic resistance either.

_"Unaware of loss,"_

_"no aware of gain."_

Zouken realized he couldn't win, so he opted for withdrawal. His body completely decomposed and the familiars scattered through the nooks and crannies they had entered.

_"Whistood pain to create weapons, chasing an ever distant dream."_

But it was useless. Now that I could see the familiars more closely, I knew for certain that they were weak to the sacred element.

_"I have no regrets, this is the path I chose."_

_"My whole life was... Unlimited Blade Works!"_

I finished the chanting and the illusory fire spread to mark the limit of the bounded field, which I calculated to envelop the whole house.

The next moment, I found myself at the top of the hill of swords. My reality marble had not changed much since I became a counter-guardian, except the grass that grew around my true noble phantasm.

All of Zouken's familiars were at the foot of the hill. As I expected, they could not escape in time because of the sacred swords.

"A reality marble... This was your ace in the hole from the beginning." Zouken's incredulous voice was heard through his familiars.

"Yes. Within this world will be where you face your fate, Matou Zouken."

Far from despair, the old magus kept calm. Moreover, I could even hear a laugh from him.

"Even if you eliminate all the familiars here, I still have some inside the girl. The moment you do, the worms inside her body will consume her to recreate my body. What will you do, Tohsaka's servant?"

Honestly, I expected something like this. That could have meant checkmate for anyone else, but not for me.

"And who said I was going to kill you?"

"What?" My words confused Zouken.

My hand grasped the hilt of the sword of promised salvation, and it began to emit a golden gleam.

"I thought a lot about why you would extend your life for so many years, and in the end I came to a single conclusion. I can only think of one reason why someone would endure so many years in a body so worn out and consumed. You were pursuing a dream, an ideal. Like me."

The deep silence of the Matou gave me the confirmation I needed.

I pulled the sword in my hand, and when I pulled it out, its light spread all over the reality marble. The grass beneath the sword spread throughout the hill, and the orange evening skies cleared and became a beautiful blue sky. The whole place resembled that everdistant utopia. The Garden of Avalon.

"Then, let me show you that dream once more." I raised the sword above my head and started pouring prana into it. The blade was wrapped in a warm golden light, and flecks of light began to float all over the place.

Old Matou stood still, watching attentively the sword in my hands. Apparently, he had already resigned himself to his fate.

I swung forward the sword and it fired its light at Zouken. The golden and warm ligth burned all the impure familiar, leaving only Zouken's soul. The hatred and resentment accumulated over so many years began to be purified, and the inhuman figure of the old worm was again that of a man with blue hair and eyes.

In his final moments, Matou Zouken recalled that beautiful dream he sought throughout his life, and was buried by so many years of hatred. That dream he shared with the person he came to admire, and lost attempting to achieve it.

In the midst of the pillar of light that enveloped him, the image of that person appeared. She was a woman who looked very much like Ilya, the master of Berserker. Her hair as white as snow reached the ground, and her eyes were red. She wore a strange white dress with red and gold details, with a matching crown. She was Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern.

Like me, Zouken could also see the image. Before his soul vanished and returned to the root, I could see that on his lips there was a beautiful smile.

"Rest in peace, Zolguen Makiri. Your dream is in good hands. I'll take care of putting an end to this farse called the Holy Grail War." I bid him farewell, as I watched as the pillar of light scattered in tiny specks.

* * *

I was thoughtful as the Unlimited Blade Works collapsed and I was back at Zouken's workshop.

For some reason, as I purified Zouken's soul, I received information about the truth behind the Holy Grail War in my head. Perhaps it was a last gift from the magus, or perhaps it was a property of the nameless sword of promised salvation.

The first thing that crossed my mind when I finished processing all the knowledge was "magus, I don't expect anything from them, and yet they keep disappointing me."

As it was seen to come, the Holy Grail was created to reach the root, although that required the souls of the seven servants. That is why they created the command seals, to force the last servant to commit suicide. But in order to access the Holy Grail, a servant is needed since it does not possess a physical body, as the supervisor explained. Therefore, the system is defective and will never be able to fulfill its original purpose.

The true name of the ritual was Heaven's Feel, so called in reference to the third true magic, the one the Einzberns wanted to recover at all costs. I also received information about the minor Grail system, which disgusted me.

The Einzberns would provide a modified homunculus in order to contain the soul of the servants, and at the end of the War, it would die, becoming a minor Grail with the objective of opening the gate to the root.

That meant that Berserker's master was sent here on a suicide mission, where she won or lost, she would end up dying anyway. A tragic fate no doubt, and so I added her to the "list of people I must save while I am here." And that also explains what Zouken was doing to Sakura.

But, worst of all, by far, it was the mess they made in summoning Angra Mainyu, All the World's Evil, as the servant Avenger during the Third Holy Grail War.

Thanks to that, now the Grail is corrupted and making a wish will cause a tragedy similar to that of ten years ago. Not only that, but the threat of Avenger being reborn and all his evils and curses looming over the world is also present.

Now, I know why I could be summoned. To stop this terrible threat.

I left the Matou residence to look for Rider, and to my surprise, I found her waiting for me at the door. In her arms, there was an unconscious Sakura.

"Is it over?" She asked me in her usual monotonous tone.

"Yes. It's over. Your master is already free from the bonds of the Matou family."

She nodded in response. "So what did you do to the old worm? As we left the house, Sakura began to suffer pain, until suddenly she calmed down and lost consciousness."

It took me a few seconds to realize what happened. "I purified the old man's soul with my noble phantasm. His soul could not continue on this plane, but at least I was able to free him from all the hatred and resentment he accumulated for so many years. He died with one last smile on his face. As for Sakura, the crest worms in her body should no longer be there, including the fragments of the previous Grail they carried."

My answer managed to make Rider smile slightly, although it was almost imperceptible. "I will take her to her room to rest. We'll give her the news when she wakes up."

I nodded and walked her to the room on the second floor. It was still half a day, so there was still plenty of time until Rin and Shirou's date ended.

I examined the girl with structural grasp, just by confirmation. And yes, her body was already free of worms and grail fragments. There was still some residual damage, but it was nothing to stop her from living a normal life.

While I was at it, I noticed the pink bow tied in her hair. It was exactly the same tie I saw Rin use in a picture from her childhood. What a coincidence... The stitches in my head finally came together. It was a rather absurd story from my point of view, but from the perspective of a magus, it made a lot of sense.

Several hours passed while the girl slept peacefully, until she began to wake up. She seemed a little dazed to find herself in her bed again.

"I see you've already woken up. How do you feel?" I spoke to get her attention.

She turned to look at me, and when she saw me she turned back cautiously. Man, this is uncomfortable.

"Master, he is trustworthy. In fact, he is the one who saved you." Rider supported me from the corner of the room.

Hearing her servant, the girl bowed her head to the side.

"Well... Let's just say, your "grandfather" finally passed away because of his age, and I made sure he made peace with himself in his last moments." Again, a half truth, but I wanted to tell her this with tact.

After listening to me, she stared at me with an expression of pure unbelief. "Is that true?"

She seemed divided into whether she felt sad or happy.

"Yes. From now on, you can live a normal and happy life. There will be no more worms or anything to stop you. That hell you went through is finally over."

Her expression did not change, but slowly the tears began to fall from her eyes. They were tears of happiness.

"Huh?" Her delicate hands touched the tears, as if she didn't think they were there. All the restrained and repressed emotions during all those years of suffering came at once.

Finally, a true smile formed on her face. Rider approached her and hugged her tenderly. It was strange to see the stoic woman do such a thing. I could not help but smile a little at such a scene.

With this whole thing settled, I figured it was time to make my exit. I was walking through the door to leave the room when I heard Sakura's timid voice.

"Thank you, sir. Thank you very much." At the end, she showed me her beautiful smile.

Just by seeing that, I knew what I did was worth it.

"You don't need to thank me. I did it just because I wanted to. Just enjoy your new life, that's more than enough."

After I said that, I went in spiritual form and left the house.

* * *

I decided to go back to the Emiya residence to wait for Rin, Shirou and Saber to return from their date. On the way, it started to rain. I figured with time like this, they'd be back soon.

I also started preparing myself mentally for the reprimand I was going to get from Rin the moment we were alone. But that wasn't entirely my fault either. Why did Rin get into her head to take me on the date? Until recently, she even sometimes forgot my presence. I don't understand why she would be so obsessed with me having fun.

My unsuccessful attempt to decipher Rin's thought process by hearing her voice through our link.

_"Archer! By my command seal, I order you to stop Saber!"_

"What-?" I didn't even have time to process what was going on when the magic of the seal forcibly teleported me.

I reappeared with my body full reinforced and the most powerful weapon of my arsenal already traced in my hands, Merodach.

The first thing I saw was Saber, rushing towards me and making a descending cut with her invisible sword. I gave up any kind of thinking about, why the hell is Saber attacking Rin? and I concentrated on stopping her attack.

The clash between swords produced an immense shock wave that ripped pairs from the asphalt around us. My feet joined on the ground because of the enormous force that Saber was exerting. I knew she was strong, but this is so much more than she was before. With this strength, Saber could have been paired with Berserker, without using the prana purst.

If it wasn't for the impulse the command seal gave me, I would have been sent flying.

Our eyes crossed... and for some reason, she had a resigned look and was crying out of helplessness. Then her eyes settled on the sword in my hands, and surprise invaded her face.

Without wasting time, I took advantage of her distraction.

"Haaaaah!" I flooded Merodach with prana and performed a Burst prana. The blade was wrapped in light, and the next moment, the light exploded violently.

She couldn't react in time and flew off in the direction of some debris behind her.

Without an imminent danger to worry about, now I do begin to observe my surroundings. Apparently, I was inside some kind of illusion, where the bridge that united both parts of the City of Fuyuki had been destroyed and the debris had fallen into the river. Behind me was Rin, kneeling beside a semiunconscious Shirou and with a rather nasty wound on his shoulder. Near them was also the "caretaker" of Shirou, unconscious but unharmed.

We were surrounded by dragontooth warriors who seemed to be made of water, and in front of me, floating a few meters above where Saber had crashed, was Caster. In her right hand she had her noble phantasm, Rule Breaker, and on the back of her left hand I could see some command seals identical to those of Shirou.

It didn't take me long to reconstruct what had happened exactly while I was gone, and it was worrying. Outnumbered and surrounded as we were, the only option left was to withdraw. We had to leave quickly.

Saber would soon recover, and although Caster seemed to have stood by for the surprise caused by my entrance, I doubt it would take her long to react.

I let Merodach dissipate and traced my bow and Retriever. As I turned around and altered the cursed sword to fire it, I made eye contact with Rin.

"Archer, where were you? I had to use a command seal to call you because you weren't coming." Far from the angry tone I expected, she spoke to me in a flat tone.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you when we get out of here." I answered her honestly, and she agreed.

I released the rope, and the Retriever overloaded with prana flew to the edge of the bounded field that created the illusion, eliminating all familiars in its path and piercing it. In doing so, it opened a sizeable hole through which we could leave.

Rin immediately helped Shirou to get up and they both started walking towards the hole. I took Fujimura and went after them.

Before leaving the bounded field, I turned to see if we were being followed. Saber, who had already recovered, was watching us with a completely dejected look. Beside her was Caster, with a confident smile on her face.

She was letting us escape. With Saber now under her control, one could say that Caster had practically won the war.

With nothing I could do, I left the place and walked Rin home.

As soon as we arrived at the Tohsaka residence, we left Fujimura resting in the guest room and treated Shirou's wound.

While Rin was showering, she told me what happened while I was away. Caster took Fujimura hostage to force Shirou to hand him over to Saber. According to her, she had discovered how the Holy Grail worked, and she only needed one person to produce a large amount of prana to make it appear, someone like Saber. Shirou refused, and Saber tried to attack Caster. Her master inadvertently used a command seal to stop her and Caster took the opportunity to stab her with Rule Breaker. After that, Caster used a command seal to force her to attack Rin, and Shirou got in the way and ended with that wound. The rest is history.

Rin finished showering and sat next to me on the couch. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Rin spoke.

"Archer, don't you think it's time you told me what you were doing while we were on the date?"

"And what makes you think I was doing something behind your back?" I knew there was no way to keep this thing from the Matou family, but at least I tried.

"Around noon, for a few moments you started using an enormous amount of prana, as if you were using your noble Phantasm. Besides, in the morning you acted strange. You never resisted doing something I asked you to do so much, and you didn't even give in a bit when I threatened to use a command seal. I knew you were up to something, but knowing you, I doubt it was anything to betray me or put people in danger."

I breathed a resigned sigh. "Okay, I'll tell you. But first of all, I need you to answer a question with total sincerity."

"Go ahead."

"What is your real relation with the girl named Matou Sakura?"

Rin blinked a couple of times at my question. "What does Sakura have to do with this?"

"Well... pretty much everything. That's why I want you to tell me what your relationship is with her. I'm sure you're not just acquaintances."

She kept thinking for a few moments, until she finally confessed. "Sakura was originally my little sister. Since only one of the two could inherit the Tohsaka family crest, to avoid conflict, my father decided to give her up for adoption to the Matou family to become the heir to that family. After that, we pretended we were never sisters and we were just acquainted."

I couldn't help but take my hand to my face. "That's why I don't like the magus. To put his office before his own daughter. That's one of the biggest nonsense I've ever heard."

"Well...?"

I finally told Rin about my "deal" with Rider, and the short version of today's events. I avoided going into details like my reality marble or my true noble phantasm. That would have lengthened the story longer than necessary, and would lead to rather uncomfortable questions.

Rin listened attentively, although her expression of unbelief increased as I spoke.

"I don't know whether to thank you, or call you stupid." That's whats he said when she finished listening to me.

"I will accept any reprimand or punishment you wish to give me, Master. But I will tell you that I do not regret what I did." She kept quiet and sighed.

"If you get like this it's hard to get angry with you. But, you should have told me. I could have helped you somehow. You're not alone, you know. We're partners. Still..."

Before I could try to explain to her why I acted on my own, she got up off the couch and stood in front of me.

"Thank you, Archer. For saving my sister." That was the first time I saw Rin smile so radiantly.

I was about to say my classic "no need to thank me, I did it because I wanted to," but in the end I abstained. It would most likely ruin the moment.

"When this is all over, you can start making up for lost time with her." She nodded, but then her expression of happiness passed to one of concern.

"But if she's Rider's master, doesn't that mean we'll have to fight?" Oh, I forgot about that little detail.

"You don't have to worry about that. She has no intention of fighting in the war. She will most likely retire. Meanwhile, Rider will stay with her to protect her if Shinji tries anything." Hearing that, Rin relaxed and looked relieved.

"But now we have another urgent problem to deal with..."

"Yes, Caster..."

Although I did not like to interrupt Rin's moment of happiness, Caster's problem had to be addressed urgently.

"It will be best to attack as soon as possible. Caster will take some time to subdue Saber completely. We must attack before that happens."

"I understand."

"And what do you plan to do with Shirou?" My sudden question surprised her, but that was also a topic we had to deal with.

"Well... It is true that he is no longer a master, but it is not over yet. I will reject him, but until he gives up, nothing is finished, don't you think?"

"If that's your decision, then I'll back her up, Rin."

We both got up, and Rin looked at me full of determination.

"Then, here we go, Archer."

* * *

**And that's all up to now. What did you think of the ending I gave Zouken? The amount of fic where Zouken is not cruelly killed is very small, and that is speculating that there must be some out there since I have not seen any. Recalling the end of Heavens Feel and visiting the Wiki of Type-Moon, I discovered that hidden in the cast of Fate/Stay Night there was another idealistic man besides Shirou. Zouken wasn't evil at first, he just rotted over the years, like EMIYA.**

**Although remaining alive in his state was already impossible, at least King of Fakers managed to rid him of all the hatred accumulated over the years and died accepting his destiny and happy. I also had a hard time writing to Sakura, I don't know if I got her right, I expect your opinions.**

**I recently saw the second film of Heaven's Feel and, Oh how I enjoyed it. I even felt like writing a version of this fic following the events of that route, after all, the route doesn't depend on Archer, it depends on which heroine Shirou chooses. But, the events of this chapter explain why I didn't do that in the first place. The Shadow and Saber alter are very op, but the nameless sword of the promised salvation is the perfect counter. With a single blow they would both be purified and there the story would end.**

**On the other hand, since King of Fakers was busy, he couldn't stop Caster from getting hold of Saber. So, you can get an idea of what's coming next. And yes, with Saber having seen Merodach, now she knows who Archer is.**

**As for King of Fakers singing the complete aria to manifest the Unlimited Blade Works, it is more by personal preference. The scene loses its epicity if the aria is shortened. Moreover, did anyone expect to see the nameless sword of promised salvation in action so soon?**

**Well, with this we've already surpassed the first season of anime. In the following chapters we will begin to approach what would be the climax of the Holy Grail War. I started thinking about the following stories and I have three possible options, but we'll talk about that later. I was also thinking that I could draw the King of Fakers design and put it as a history photo. The problem is that my drawing skills are the same as King of Fakers' with women, that is, null.**

**Without much more to say, as always, I appreciate the follows, favs and any kind of constructive review. I would also like to know what you think of this chapter or if anyone has any questions.**

**With this I say goodbye for now, until we meet again.**


	7. Chapter 6

**We meet again, people. I bring you the next chapter of this story. With this chapter will conclude the plot of Caster and as I promised you, from here the climax of the War will begin. Besides, I know there wasn't a lot of interaction between Saber and Archer, so in this chapter you'll have plenty of that.**

**Without further ado, let the chapter begin.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any right over Type-Moon or Fate franchise.**

* * *

Before going out to look for Caster, we checked the condition of Fujimura and Shirou. The first was still deep. Apparently, Caster used a curse on her and to undo it we would have to defeat whoever put it. More reasons to hurry.

As for Shirou, his condition wasn't getting much better. Now that Saber was no longer around, the scabbard inside him no longer healed him so quickly. At the rate he was going, it would take a day or two to heal that wound.

Already at night, we went hunting for Caster. We went to Ryouudouji Temple, but to our surprise, there was no trace of Caster's territory left. The only one left was Assassin, guarding the entrance.

We assumed that she had moved to implement her plan to use the Grail, so we set out to look for her all over the city. After finding no trace of her in Miyama City, we went to Shinto.

It made sense that she was there. If one were looking for the Holy Grail, the most logical would be to go to the church where the supervisor is located, at least for someone who does not know about the Lesser Grail system.

We were jumping through the skyscrapers, when we saw Shirou walking down the streets below. He seemed to be looking for us.

Rin decided to stop at one of the rooftops to wait for him. Soon after, the door leading up the stairs opened and Shirou entered, sweating and gasping for the effort to move in his condition.

"What are you doing here? Get out of here. I don't know what you're up to but you're in the way." Rin spoke sharply as she turned around to look at him directly.

"I'm not living. We promised to fight together." Shirou answered without giving in.

"Forget that promise. Right now, what can you do? You who lost Saber." Rin continued to press, and this time Shirou's resolve seemed to falter.

"Well..."

"Also, you don't have to fight anymore. You're no longer a master. If you take refuge in the church, you'll be safe."

"Don't talk nonsense, I can't let Saber go like this! So whatever happens, I'll keep fighting until the end-"

Shirou's speech was interrupted by a burst of pain from his wound, and he fell to the ground as he blocked it with his other arm in an attempt to ease the pain.

"See? Until now you had Saber's help, but if you lose it, that's what happens. Besides, you talk about Saber, but it's no longer up to you what happens to her." Rin continued to reject him relentlessly.

"You're wrong. Even though I'm not her master anymore, Saber didn't want to go with her! I can't let that broad use her to her liking!"

"I see. But you don't have any power now. Okay. If you won't accept it, I will tell you. Right now, you can't save Saber."

Rin struck the final blow in a cold tone, and Shirou's determination crumbled.

"The talk is over. You lost Saber and you stopped being a master. There is no longer any reason for you to get involved in the bloodbath of the Holy Grail War. So leave.."

After saying that, Rin turned and walked to the edge of the roof.

"Wait, Tohsaka, still...!"

Without listening to Shirou, she jumped off the roof. In the middle of the air, I materialized and grabbed her by the waist as I pushed myself to the next building.

"If you continue to get involved... you will die." Rin issued one last warning before we left.

I kept quiet during the conversation because this was something the two of them had to work out. Still, if Shirou is like me, instead of losing the will to fight, it will only increase his resolve.

* * *

In the end, it was dawn when we found Caster. As I assumed, she was in the church.

As the fatigue was already beginning to affect Rin, we decided that she would rest in a small park located on the hill of the church.

I stayed close to her, standing guard in case Caster or some other servant tried to attack us.

Luckily that was not the case. The only worrying thing was when Rin started shaking from the cold and I ended up covering her with a traced copy of my red cloak.

The scene brought back some painful memories, but I ended up pushing them aside. Moreover, Rin seemed to have a not very pleasant dream about her face. She kept repeating, "I can't accept it", and "it pisses me off".

I guess, despite the strong front she's showing, this whole Holy Grail War thing is affecting her.

Rin woke up around noon. As usual, it took her time to wake up completely, and in the meantime she realized the cloak that covered her.

"Are you feeling better, Rin? If you see that you are not fit, we can postpone the assault". I told her while I materialised at her side. Although defeating Caster was an urgent matter, we can't rush it either.

"No. If we know where Caster is, we must end this." She answered without hesitation.

"Take." She extended her hand with my cloak to return it to me. "It's in bad taste to spy on a girl while she's sleeping."

"I just made sure you could rest easy. I can't let you catch a cold in the middle of the war." I answered her as I took the cloak and let it dissipate.

"Of course you wouldn't do anything. As dense as you are..." The last thing she said came out as a whisper.

I get the feeling I am called that many times, but I still don't know what they mean.

My reflections were interrupted when Rin spoke to me again.

"Hey, Archer. Did you ever regret something you did? If possible, I don't want to regret anything. But I'm sure it will be hard. More than I imagine." She spoke as she seemed submerged in her thoughts.

I closed my eyes as I thought about how to respond, and I couldn't help but scratch the back of my head.

"Well, I think as long as you follow the path you choose and do what you think is right, no matter what others say, you should have no regrets. Being you, Rin, I think you'll be able to do it."

Hearing me, she blushed for some reason and looked away.

"And what about you? Can you fully trust that you do the right thing to the end?"

Her question made me review my blurred memories. The answer was clear from the beginning.

"I followed my ideals and beliefs to the end because I always thought it was the right thing to do, and that hasn't changed even after I became a heroic spirit. I'll always think saving people isn't bad."

After my answer, Rin dropped the subject and we waited until it got dark as we planned to defeat Caster.

When we entered the church, we found the place completely disorderly and full of signs that there was a fight. The supervisor was nowhere to be found, and we found bloodstains in the inner courtyard. Either Caster got rid of him, or he managed to escape.

"You have to be daring to attack the supervisor. Anyway, Kirei had to be prepared." Rin commented as we inspected the place.

"I'm going to ask you again, Rin. Are you sure you're the one facing Caster?"

"Are you still worried about that? It's the safest option. If you are not careful when approaching, she could break our contract as well. So you will take care of her master."

She was right. Rin didn't have many chances against Kuzuki, and I doubt Caster will ever underestimate me again. Still...

"I don't mind fighting him, but do you know that a modern magus has no chance against a Caster servant, rigth?"

"Don't worry, I'd never try anything I can't win. Leave it to me, Archer."

"Okay then, I'll trust you." Seeing her confidence, I had no choice but to give in.

"Come on. We will defeat Caster here. So, Saber will be back to her normal self and she can form a contract with Shirou again."

With that solved, we went down to the basement, the only place left to investigate, and where Caster would surely be. The place was a large room full of pillars and some spare benches. In the middle there was a red carpet that went up to an altar at the back of the room. There was Saber, in the middle of a magic circle, with her hands tied by the magic threads of Caster and dressed in a sort of blue-blue wedding dress.

She breathed with difficulty and her cheeks were pink because of the enormous effort he must have been making to resist Caster's control.

Seeing her in that state made her frown. We must end this as soon as possible so that she will stop suffering.

Kuzuki stood with his back resting on one of the pillars to the left of the altar, and Caster soon appeared beside him.

"My my. Sure it took you a little while to come, girl." Caster spoke full of confidence.

"Of course. I've come to defeat you personally. You are really bold to attack the supervisor. Well? Did you check the corpse?" Rin replied with an equally confident smile.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing in particular. I just thought that if you didn't check it, he should be alive. Let's get this over with quickly. This time you have no hostages, so I can fight without restraining myself."

"Do you think you can beat me in a magecraft match?"

"Depending on how I do it, yes. Luckily, you still don't seem to control Saber. And I already know how Kuzuki-sensei fights. He's no match for Archer. Come on, Archer."

"Roger. But before we start, I'd like to ask Caster something." All the present looked at me strangely, well, Kuzuki continued with his stoic expression but raised an eyebrow.

"You want to accept the offer I made you, Archer?" Caster asked me with a chuckle.

"Nothing like that. I just want to check one thing. Caster, if I were to tell you that the Holy Grail is corrupt and can't fulfill your wish, would you surrender and stop trying to do this nonsense?"

Caster's smile disappeared upon hearing my words, and Rin looked at me in surprise. Even Saber opened her eyes to look at me for a moment, before closing them again to continue resisting.

"You really think I'm gonna believe a lie like that, Archer? I thought you were smarter."

"That information was obtained from the head of one of the founding families, so it has a good chance of being true. Not only will your desire not be fulfilled, but it will cause nothing but destruction. Even knowing that, will you move on, Caster?"

My words were followed by a tense silence. Caster seemed to reflect for a few moments, until her answer finally arrived.

"Of course I will move on, even more now that my goal is so close. I will not fall into such deceptions so easily, Archer."

Well, that was my last attempt to resolve this peacefully. I know I have no more hard evidence to prove that fact other than I being able to be summoned, and the fire of ten years ago, but at least I wanted to try.

"Then, it's settled. My duty now is to stop you, whatever it takes, so I won't hold back. We'll stick to the plan, won't we, Rin?" At the end of my speech, I adopted my cold expression and traced Kanshou and Bakuya.

"Yes. We will give it all!" She returned to show her confident smile and pulled a few gems out of her pockets.

Caster began to levitate several meters above the ground, and behind her appeared multiple magic circles.

"What beautiful things you say. Do you think you can beat me one-on-one? Did you forget my best card? If I use a command seal, I can turn her into a puppet at any time."

"Even if you use a command seal, Saber can resist. I don't know if for a minute or two, but it'll be enough to take you down!"

Rin immediately threw all the gems in her hands at Caster. Caster responded by firing several prana beams at the gems. Although she managed to destroy most of them, some of the gems dodged the beams and attacked Caster from the sides. Without much effort, Caster fired more prana rays and destroyed the remaining gems.

Taking advantage of the smoke screen generated by the explosions, Rin threw another gem at Caster, this time it was a sapphire. The precious stone exploded in front of Caster, releasing a great deal of light that blinded the servant.

"A distraction!" Caster screamed as she narrowly dodged the multiple Gandrs being shot in her direction.

"First, I'll get you down from there."

At that moment, the master of Caster took action and ran towards Rin.

"Archer!"

Even before Rin warned me, I was already between the two masters. With a broad swing of Bakuya I forced Kuzuki to retreat. I continued to press with a thrust with Kanshou. He evaded it by stepping to the right, and immediately countered with his right fist pointing at my left side.

I stopped it with Bakuya and forced his arm to one side. At the same time, I threw him a diagonal cut with Kanshou. This time, he narrowly dodged it, and his suit was cut.

The master charged me and started throwing fast punches at me from various angles. His strange fighting style took Saber by surprise, but not me. I effectively stopped all his attacks, and his hands were full of cuts.

Against a fighting style as straightforward as Saber's, his fighting style was quite effective. But, against a style as irregular and unconventional as mine, it had no advantage.

"Your movements, are the same as of Emiya's." My opponent commented in his flat tone.

"You're wrong. His fighting style..." I increased the pace to press it, and I struck a blow with Bakuya's blunt side on his ribs. "...is hardly an imitation of mine."

The fight remained more or less matched, although anyone with experience would realize that I was holding back. My goal was simply to keep him occupied while Rin dealt with Caster.

Meanwhile, the magecraft duel between Caster and Rin continued. It seemed that they were both even, but Caster had the advantage. Every time Rin attacked or defended, she used up her gems to do so, unlike Caster who simply tapped into her vast reserves of stolen energy. At that rate, Rin would run out of gems and become helpless.

And in the end, that's exactly what happened. Rin tried to throw a final attack with the remaining gems, but it was easily countered by Caster.

Rin's expression became one of despair, and Caster descended to the ground.

"Oh my, you're done? You still have gems left, right? Why don't you keep trying without giving up?"

Rin's silence and expression of frustration answered Caster's question.

"I see you finally understand. Whatever you do, you won't outdo me. But it was fun. I haven't had a duel with another magus in a while. Yes. I admit you at least had that courage. Are you angry? But this is the reality. You should be proud to have forced me to a magecraft fight against you. When I'm done with you, Archer will be mine and with him and Saber defeating Berserker will be child's play."

After her long confident speech, Caster raised her hand and set out to kill Rin. But apparently, Caster forgot the detail that I'm still here. Either that, or she really believed that her master was giving me trouble.

I knew Rin would have something else planned to beat Caster. I doubt she'd be so confident with just this. But better safe than sorry, so I set upon my plan B.

I quickly reinforced my body, and with the newly acquired boost I easily broke Kuzuki's guard. Next, I kicked him in his unprotected chest and made him crash right next to Caster.

"Master...!?" Caster turned alarmed to look at her master.

Those brief moments of distraction were her sentence.

"Trace on."

By the time Caster turned to look at me, several nameless noble phantasms were already flying at high speed in the direction of her master.

"Souchiro!"

As I expected, Caster stood before her master and received all the swords in her chest. It was a completely fatal blow.

Caster's hood fell to the ground, revealing a beautiful face with lilac eyes, long lilac hair, and pointed ears.

"Guh!" She stepped back as she coughed blood and turned to look at her master, who had just risen from the ground.

"Are you harmed, master?"

"No."

"What a relief. I wouldn't know what to do if you had died. It's a shame... now that I had finally found my desire." Caster's legs gave way and she ended up leaning on Kuzuki's chest.

"Don't grieve, I will fulfill your wish."

"If only that were possible... After all, the wish of which I speak has already been fulfilled. All the time until this moment, was what I wished..."

After saying those last words, Caster vanished into specks of prana. It was a sad farewell, and a part of me felt bad about what I did. But it was necessary. Words were not enough to convince her, and if I had let her use the corrupt Grail, she would have unleashed hell on the city.

Kuzuki's empty eyes crossed with mine, and he began to walk towards me. His stoic expression did not change at any time.

"Now that Caster is gone, you are no longer a master. You no longer have any reason to keep on fighting."

"You're right. I have no reason to fight. I never had any interest in the Holy Grail War. But, this is something that I started. I took this position, without worrying about matters of good or evil. I can't quit without seeing it to the end."

He stood a few meters from me and took his stand with the intention of finishing our fight.

"Then, so be it."

He rushed at me, but without Caster's reinforcement on his body, from my perspective it looked like he was going in slow motion. I turned aside and let him pass by. Before he could turn to continue his attack, I hit the back of his neck with Bakuya's hilt. The man immediately fell unconscious.

"Tsk. You shouldn't throw away your life just like that, even though that's very hypocritical coming from me."

I turned to look at Rin. She was still a little shocked by the abrupt end of the fight.

"Rin, can you hypnotize him so that he forget everything about the war?"

My words brought her out of her stupor, and after a few moments' thought, she answered.

"I guess there shouldn't be any problem, since he's a normal human."

It was the best thing for the man. He's already lived through something horrible to end up in that state, we can't let him get involved in the 'moon-lit world'.

"Hey, Archer, you didn't have to do... that. I had it all under control, I was just luring Caster to end it in a hand-to-hand combat."

Well, that was a certainly effective plan. The weakness of most magus in antiquity was that they were really inept in the self-defense department. With the reinforcement Rin could use thanks to her magical crest, she would probably have quickly overwhelmed Caster.

"Still, I wanted to make sure. Also, if someone has to get his hands dirty, it better be someone who already has them stained." Rin looked at me with some concern at what I said.

"And what happened to not wanting to kill Caster's master? If your plan had gone wrong, it would have been him who died."

"Well, I can't blame you for not having noticed. Caster's master was never in danger. I threw the blades so that they would fail by a few inches. All that happened was that Caster fell into a deliberate trap. Because of the urgency of the moment, she did not have time to check the trajectory of the swords. But, anyway, we have more pressing matters."

By saying that, I turned to look at Saber. Caster's ties had already disappeared, and she had collapsed on the ground, completely exhausted.

"You're right. If we don't act fast, now that she has nothing to tie to this plane, it won't take long to disappear."

"Are you sure Shirou can get back into a contract with her?" I asked her as we approached Saber.

"Of course yes. Besides, as I recall, Emiya-kun still had one command seal left before his contract was broken."

I nodded in understanding and looked back at Saber. In the state she was in, I doubt she could even stand up.

"I guess I'll have to carry her..." I stopped at what I was doing when I caught something out of the corner of my eye. "Or maybe that won't be necessary." I said as I turned to look at our viewer.

"What do you mean, Archer?" Rin's question was answered when she turned to look in the direction I was looking.

There was Emiya Shirou, dressed in jeans, sneakers and a black and white tracksuit jacket. In his hand he carried a wooden sword and on his back was the sheath of said sword. From the rigid movements of his arm, I could tell that his wound had not yet fully healed.

"Huh!? What are you doing here, Emiya-kun!?" Rin was surprised to see him and pointed at him.

Shirou smiled uncomfortably and scratched the back of his head with his free hand. "Well, even though you told me I had no more reason to fight, I couldn't let you go alone and save Saber and put yourself in danger. Although, as far as I can tell, you were able to beat Caster without too much complication."

After saying that, the boy gave me a rather complicated look. Upon hearing it, Rin blushed a little, looked away and began to murmur something I could not understand.

Seeing as these two were starting to beat around the bush, I reminded them of the whole Saber thing.

"Anyway, the fact that he came makes things easier for us. You better form the contract back with Saber immediately, before she fades."

The process did not last long, and now that the magical circuits of Shirou were open, Saber could already receive prana in condition, even if it was not a large quantity.

After recovering, Saber immediately discarded the questionable wedding dress and recalled Rin's casual clothing. Then, both master and servant, thanked Rin.

"You have my thanks Rin. I doubt I could have resisted much longer. Also, even if it was against my will, I apologize for attacking you."

"You don't have to thank me, we were allies. Besides, we had to defeat Caster anyway. Now that you are a master again, Emiya-kun, we can resume our alliance."

Saber nodded, and then turned to look at me. "You also have my thanks, Archer. But I would like to ask you something. What you said about the Grail being corrupt, is that true?"

"I wanted to ask you about that, too, Archer. At first I thought you were just trying to trick Caster, but as serious as you were talking, it really seemed like you were telling the truth."

Right, that was one of the details I left out when I told him about the Zouken affair with Rin.

"Well, that is information I got from Matou Zouken. I don't know if it's completely true, but coming from someone who was present at all of the previous Holy Grail Wars, I would wager yes."

Both nodded in understanding, although the expression of Saber showed that she was not taking it very well.

"Wait, did you say Matou Zouken? Like Sakura's grandfather?" From how confused Shirou was, I could say that he really had no idea of Zouken's true nature.

"That's a long and complicated story. For now we should go home to rest. There we can talk things out."

Everyone agreed and we left the church.

* * *

Because of Rin's insistence, we met at the Tohsaka residence. According to her, since they previously invited us to spend the night at their residence, it was now her turn to invite them.

On the way, we left Kuzuki on the stairs leading up to the Ryuudouji temple. Thanks to Rin's hypnosis, tomorrow he would wake up without any memory of Caster or the Holy Grail War, and go on with his normal life as before.

Shirou ended up cooking an impromptu dinner, because everyone was hungry, and while we were having dinner, Rin and I told them about the events with the Matou.

Shirou was very surprised to discover the whole plot that was happening right under his nose all these years, and he never noticed. I advised him that when all this was over, he should spend more time with her since she seemed to be quite attached to him.

After that, we moved on to the matter that seemed to matter a lot to Saber, the corrupt Grail.

"Are you absolutely sure, Archer?" Saber insisted again.

Although she hid it quite well, I could tell she got a little anxious when we were talking about it. She seemed to really care about getting her wish.

"As I said before, I got that information from someone who has witnessed all the previous wars. In addition, the fire of ten years ago is a pretty solid proof."

Both Shirou and Saber reacted to the mention of Fuyuki's fire. From Shirou I expected it, but from Saber, how was she related to it?

"What do you mean by that, Archer?" This time it was Shirou who asked me.

"Magus may turn out to be morons in most cases, but they're not fools. I doubt they created the Holy Grail with the possibility of burning much of the city if anything goes wrong. Even if they don't care about lives, they do care about keeping the magecraft a secret, and an unexplained mass fire is not the best way to do it. But, if you want more confirmation, there's still another participant of this war we can ask."

Rin was the first to catch who I was talking about. "You mean Illyasviel, the master of Berserker, right?"

Upon hearing the mention of Kotomine Kirei, Rin's expression turned a Little sour. "I wouldn't trust that guy, he's always up to something. Besides, even though we didn't find his body, we still don't know if he's really alive."

"Rin is rigth. The priest seemed to be withholding a lot of information the first time we visited the church. Besides, visiting Illya also concerns you, Shirou."

"Huh?" The boy bowed confused when he heard me, so I proceeded to elaborate.

"She called you 'Onii-chan' as soon as she met you, and she seemed to know about you beforehand. Don't you think this is a good chance for you to find out what she's got to do with you?"

"Well, you have a point."

At the end of the conversation, Rin applauded to get everyone's attention.

"Then it is decided. Tomorrow morning we will go to visit Illyasviel, so you see yourself preparing Emiya-kun." Rin casually announced, surprising everyone.

"Tomorrow!?"

"Yes, why not? It's not like we have another plan. The sooner we resolve this whole Corrupt Grail thing, the better. Besides, we can continue our date since the last time it was ruined by Caster. And this time, since you don't have any other business to take care of, Archer, you're coming, too."

I could do nothing but sigh resigned.

"Do you at least know where Berserker's master is, Rin?" I asked Rin about the most important detail. If we didn't know where Illya's lair was located, starting planning didn't make sense.

"I don't know exactly, but I always heard my father say that the Einzberns had a castle in the woods just outside the city."

"Rin, don't you think it's too soon? Shirou has yet to recover from his wound." Saber remarked worried as she looked at Shirou's arm.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that..., but anyway, we should check the wound."

After that, Shirou took off his shirt and we removed the bandage he was wearing the day before. When his arm was exposed, we could see that there was no longer any trace of his wound.

"Oh, it seems your miraculous healing is back in action, Emiya-kun."

As I assumed, now that Saber was close again, the scabbard returned to full function and healed the wound quickly.

And from how Saber was surprised, I'm starting to think she doesn't actually know that her scabbard is inside Shirou.

With the wound resolved, we finally agreed to go to the Einzbern castle tomorrow morning to find out if the Grail was really corrupt. Also, Shirou and Saber would sleep here at the Tohsaka residence because of how late it was.

When we were looking at which bedroom each would sleep in, we found a problem that we had completely forgotten.

In the guest room, there was still Fujimura, Shirou's 'caretaker'. She continued to sleep peacefully, but with Caster's curse lifted, she would soon wake up.

We added to tomorrow's plans to take her home. Shirou ended up sleeping on the sofa in the living room and Saber would sleep with Rin.

* * *

It had been a few hours since everyone went to sleep. Shirou was the only one in the dining room, lying on the sofa and covered with some sheets. He had trouble falling asleep, thinking about the events of the last few days and what Rin and Archer had told him.

It was a shock for him to discover all the horror and suffering that Sakura hid behind her gentle smile. He didn't know how to thank Archer for putting an end to it.

His light sleep was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. He opened one eye to see who it was, and to his surprise, whoever he saw was Rin.

She was heading towards the kitchen, dressed in the white nightgown she used to wear to sleep. Her expression, though sleepy, also seemed somewhat sad, there were even some traces of tears in the corners of her eyes.

"Tohsaka?" Shirou couldn't help but wonder why she got up at that time.

Rin heard the drowsy Shirou and stopped on her way to the kitchen. "Oh. Have I woken you up, Emiya-kun?"

Shirou shook his head. "It's okay. Anyway, I wasn't sleeping much either."

"So you couldn't sleep well either, huh? I was going to make myself some tea to try to relax, how about you join me?"

Already practically awake at all, Shirou decided he could use some tea, too.

With tea already prepared and served, they both sat on both sides of the dining room table.

"Hey, Emiya-kun. Now that we're alone, I'd like to ask you something." Rin started the conversation.

"Go ahead."

"Why did you come to church? You were aware of how dangerous it was, weren't you? If Archer and I had lost, you would have died, too."

"Well, since you both left the roof, I've been pondering. Even though at first I fought because I was thrown into this suddenly, I didn't really fight because I was a master. I decided to fight of my own free will, to protect the innocent people of this city. That's why I couldn't just give up, I'd keep fighting, even without being a master.

"I see..." That was Rin's only answer, as she plunged into her thoughts.

Seeing that Rin would not continue the conversation, Shirou continued with his speech. "You know, ever since I was a child I wanted to be a hero of justice. I always admired them and wanted to follow their example. So I have to protect people."

"The two of you really are the same..." Rin's only answer came out as a whisper.

"Hey Tohsaka, are you listening to me?"

"I am paying attention to you. The idea of others dying concerns you more than the idea of your own death. So you decided to fight despite your own weakness, right?"

"Ye-yeah..."

"What's the matter with you? You look like a squirrel that bit a candy instead of an acorn."

"Well, I just thought you'd be against that."

"Of course I'm against that. That's an insane way to live. But, in the end I've learned that you will do it, even if I try to stop you."

"So we're back to being partners, right?"

"Of course. Now you have to Saber back. Also, it's not that I hate you or anything, and your food is really good."

Throughout her speech, Rin was getting more and more embarrassed and ended up looking the other way. Shirou couldn't help but put on an ironic smile.

After that the conversation ended and they both finished drinking their tea.

Shirou was already lying on the sofa to try to sleep and Rin was leaving the room when he called her.

"Tohsaka."

She turned to look at him again. "What do you want, Emiya-kun? Is there anything else you want to talk to me about?"

Shirou stared at her thoughtfully, until he finally spoke again. "It's nothing. Sorry to call you all of a sudden, Tohsaka."

"Hmm..." She looked at him trying to scrutinize him, but eventually she let him be and went to sleep.

Shirou wasn't sure about talking to Rin about it. She seemed to have overlooked it, but he did hear Archer. Although he did not utter them very loudly, the words "Trace on, " were the words he said before throwing the blades at Caster and her master. Exactly the same aria he used when he was going to perform his own magecraft.

Not only that, with seeing the swords, he immediately understood that they were really. Projections, and of exceptional quality. If you put them next to the original, it would be difficult to distinguish them without the use of structural analysis.

Not only did he use the same magic as him, but he perfected it to the limit.

What Shirou was debating was, who was Archer really and what relation did he have with him?

He refrained from asking Tohsaka because, well, he didn't know who Saber was either, although he could get an idea from the dreams he was having lately.

He decided to go to sleep, otherwise tomorrow he wouldn't be able to go anywhere.

Oblivious to the two masters, there was taking place another conversation on the roof at the same time.

Archer was sitting on the roof of the residence, watching the night sky. The light pollution of this era made it more difficult to spot the stars, but nothing that a little reinforcement in his eyes couldn't fix.

Like every night, not having the need to sleep, he found himself looking for something to entertain himself with until the next day arrived. Now he was thinking of Caster's farewell to her master.

In her last moments of life, her true nature surfaced. She was just a woman who felt lonely and wanted a place to belong, one where she wasn't treated like a witch and a traitor.

Seeing that made him reflect. A part of him wished he could have saved her, but she just didn't give him the chance.

Many people in this city are in the hospital because of her, and from what she told Shirou, at first there were also victims. She reject the last chance that he gave her, and he couldn't let her keep doing what she was doing. Even more so if she planned to use the Grail in the state it was in.

Even if Saber and Rin were skeptical, he knew the Grail was really corrupt. That in itself was one of the reasons why he could be summoned.

The visit to Illya would help convince them completely.

His reflections were interrupted by the sound of footsteps beside him. He turned alarmed, after all, normally no one would walk on the roof, even more at that time.

He relaxed when he saw that it was about Saber, although he still found it odd that she came here at that time.

"What brings you here, Saber? Shouldn't you be resting?" He asked her as she approached him.

"Now that my master properly provides me prana, sleeping is no longer a necessity. I came because I wanted to talk about something with you. Do you mind if I sit next to you?"

Archer just gestured for her to sit down. "Then, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well... did you ever regret something you did in your life, Archer?"

Upon hearing Saber's question, Archer had a huge feeling of deja vu. Without giving him time to answer, Saber continued with his speech.

"Do you think it would be okay to try to undo the mistakes you made in the past?"

Archer couldn't help but sigh. That was a pretty complicated question, although knowing who she really was, I could see where the shots were going.

"That is a difficult question to answer without much context, but I'll try my best. Let's see, by your attitude and dignified bearing, I can tell you were a king in your former life. So, what you mean by "undo the mistakes of the past", is to undo your reign, am I right?"

The way her eyes opened, Archer knew he'd hit the nail on the head. Nor was it very difficult to deduce, the legend of King Arthur did not have a very happy ending.

"Well, yeah..."

"As for your question, well, I was never a king or someone who led others, so I can't judge you in that regard. But I can tell you that I followed my ideals and beliefs and pursued my dream, and I will never regret it. Even if it wasn't the most beautiful and blissful path, it was the path I chose to follow. Although it was a dream almost unattainable and full of hypocrisy, it was a beautiful dream worth fighting for."

Archer paused his speech to see if Saber was following him. Her expression had gone from concern and doubt to surprise and some atonishmente.

"That's why I think, if you followed your ideals and gave your best to the end, you wouldn't have to have regrets, no matter what anyone else says. But, that's just my opinion. I don't know if this will help you at all, but the rest is up to you."

Saber shook her head and showed a smile to Archer. "Thank you for taking your time with me ,Archer. It really was helpful."

Then it was Archer who showed a slight smile. "No problem. I'm glad I could be of help. It's not like I have anything to do right now either. But why did you come to me for advice?"

"Well, as a servant, I thought you'd have experience in these topics."

"I see... Is there anything else you wanted to talk about, or was that all?"

Saber became pensive for a few moments.

That was the first time she talked to Archer alone. Although most of the times she met him his behavior was quite stoic, now that they were no longer in the middle of a fight or a complicated situation he was more talkative and turned out to be a pleasant companion.

Besides, she didn't have anything to do until tomorrow either.

"Well, just out of curiosity, why did you stop your attack the first time we met?"

After a few moments of thinking, Archer's expression darkened for a few moments before turning his expression neutral.

"Let's say you reminded me of a person I met during my life." It was the answer he finally gave.

"And who was it, may I ask?"

"She looked a lot like you, I practically mistook you for her. Unlike you, she wore a more revealing red and gold dress, and she always used to have a smile on her face. Her name was Nero Claudius, and she was also a king, more specifically, an empress."

"Was one of the emperors of Rome really a woman?" Saber asked in surprise. She didn't expect there to be another ruler in the same circumstances as her.

"Yes. I really don't know why her gender got confused even in the historical records, she didn't even bother to hide it."

"And what was your relationship with her?"

This time, Archer's expression became rather grim. Saber immediately realized that she had touched on a delicate subject.

"If you don't want to talk about it, you don't have to do-" But it was interrupted.

"No. It's okay. Once in a while it's good to talk about these things with someone else. Although now that I think about it, this is the first time I talk about this subject with someone."

"Are you sure? I don't want to force you to do it."

"Like I said, it's okay. Now, about your question, even though I didn't relate much to her, you could say she was a pretty important person to me. If you know who she is, then you should know how her life ended."

Saber knew that very well. As a servant, she could easily obtain information from another heroic spirit when his true name is revealed. That's why it was so important to hide it during the Holy Grail War.

It was a similar case with Archer. She knew very well the sword he used to stop her when she was forced to attack Rin. Or rather, she knew the sword it would later become. She never expected to meet the hero who was her predecessor in drawing the sword of choice.

The ending that Nero Claudius had was very similar to hers. The members of the Senate organized a revolt against her, and the citizens of her nation decided to ignore her and abandoned her. She ended up committing suicide after fleeing her palace thanks to a still faithful guard.

"She was one of the persons I couldn't save. It was a hard blow to me, and for a few moments, my determination to follow my ideals faltered. But, I managed to pull myself together and keep going."

Both servants continued to speak of some events that occurred during their lives for a few hours. By that point, they both knew the other knew his identity, but they kept talking without revealing it. They felt more comfortable that way.

Finally, Saber's eyes began to squint and her head began to fall forward. Archer noticed and decided to end the conversation.

"You should sleep for a couple of hours at least. Resisting Caster's control must have been exhausting."

Saber nodded wearily and left to enter through the window of Rhine's room, without the slightest noise. Moreover, she had much to ponder.

Archer's reaction to her desire was very different from that of the other kings in the previous Holy Grail War. Instead of mocking her and telling her that her wish was wrong because it would be an offense to all who followed her, he understood and advised her from his own experience.

Merlin had spoken of him during her training before drawing the sword from the stone. About how he pulled the sword from the stone many years ago, and led Britain to victory against the demonic beasts.

His legend was not well known and there were many details missing. Moreover, the legend was much better known by magus than by ordinary people.

Now that she got to know him in person, she could say he really was a good person, and an example to follow as a hero.

With those last thoughts, Saber went to sleep with Rin.

Tomorrow would be a very busy day.

* * *

**And that's it so far. In the next chapter, our protagonists will visit Illya to clear up doubts about whether the Grail is corrupt. Although, if you know what's going on in the original timeline, you can get a sense of what they're going to find there.**

**Now, speaking of this chapter, Archer got to play psychologist with Rin and Saber. Since Shirou is conquering Rin here, it's up to Archer to 'save' Saber. And yes, I know it may seem like Archer only knows how to move forward, but that's how the character is. That's what has to be distorted.**

**King of Fakers represents what would happen if Shirou hadn't had any of the heroines to help her develop as a person and make her rethink her way of life. That's why he ended up acting more like a sword than a person. If the distortion is represented by the Unlimited Blade Works, then he is the one who is most distorted, after all, his inner world was able to forge an original noble phantasm.**

**As to whether there will be romance between Saber and Archer, the answer is no. The war is entering the final stage, and bringing together two people with such high density ranks would require much more time. We can always use the Fate/Grand Order card to get them back together, but as we remember in this chapter, King of Fakers' 'Saber' is Nero. Besides, I'm not too inclined to the idea of Archer stealing one of Shirou's heroines.**

**I also started drawing the design of King of Fakers. Don't expect it soon, and don't expect a work of art either. Like I said, drawing's not my thing, but it's entertaining.**

**Without much more to say, as always, I appreciate the follows, favs and any kind of constructive review. I would also like to know what you think of this chapter or if anyone has any questions.**

**With this I say goodbye for now, until we meet again.**


	8. Chapter 7

**We meet again, people. I bring you the next chapter of this story. I know there hasn't been much action since practically the first fight against Caster. That's over. This chapter is practically action from beginning to end. I also planned for this chapter to be the expected talk between King of Fakers and Shirou about this one's dream of becoming a hero of justice, but that went on long enough to be a separate chapter.**

**Anyway, without further ado, let the chapter begin.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any right over Type-Moon or Fate franchise.**

* * *

The next morning, after replenishing their energies with a good breakfast courtesy of Shirou, both masters began to prepare for their departure today. According to Rin, since they were going to visit Illyasviel unexpectedly, they should at least be presentable.

They both took turns for the shower, and as usual, Archer had to make a trip to the Emiya residence to pick up Shirou's clothes. Lucky for him, Shirou's closet didn't contain much variety of clothing, and most of the shirts were the same design, white and with blue sleeves.

With the four of them ready, they went to leave Fujimura at home, and Rin altered her memories, so she wouldn't suspect anything when she woke up.

After that, they called a taxi to take them to the edge of the forest and left for there.

Once they got out of the taxi and he left, Archer materialized. His expression was really serious.

"First of all, in case things go south, although I hope they don't, I'll tell you what I could deduce from Berseker's true identity. He is Heracles, Greece's greatest hero."

"How sure are you of it, Archer?" Saber asked in an equally serious tone.

"I'd say it's the only identity that beats that servant. It would explain his tremendous strength and skill despite being under the mad enchancement. It is said that Heracles, after carrying out the twelve labors, was received by the gods in the kingdom of heaven and his soul became immortal. Most likely that aspect of his legend became a noble phantasm that allows him to resurrect several times."

All present nodded in understanding and entered the forest. The two servants went before the masters as a precaution in case there was a trap.

After walking for a few minutes, Archer stopped and signaled the others to stop as well.

"I feel some prana right here..."

He bent down and stretched his arm to the ground in front of him. When making contact, there was a small spark in his fingers. Of course, he did not even flinch because of his high magical resistance.

"Considering that we are heading for the hiding place of a magus, I suppose it was to be expected that there would be traps. Although they seem practically harmless. An alarm maybe...?"

"As I thought, she controls the whole forest. I don't think there's a problem. We're not here to attack her, we're here to talk. It would be better for us to draw attention."

That said, Rin walked confidently towards the two servants. Just as she was about to pass by Archer, there was another spark, this time a much larger and more powerful one, that knocked Rin down and repelled her a few meters.

It caused virtually no damage, but it did make Rin angry, who got up yelling in it.

"That brat... How dare she!? You laughed! I heard you! Archer, destroy all the traps along the way!"

Shirou, Archer, and Saber couldn't help but sweat over the sudden change of heart.

After sighing, Archer traced Retriever and set out to move forward, cutting off any traps or bounded fields that stood in his way. At his side, Saber walked undeterred. Because of her A-rank magical resistance, her mere presence was enough to destroy the traps.

Shirou's eyes could not help but perch on Archer's sword. Immediately, he glimpsed the story of the cursed sword, and had to suppress a grimace. The number of lives it had taken was huge, even if most were beasts and not humans. And, again, it was a projection of unparalleled quality.

The contrast between that cursed sword and the two beautiful married swords he used to use was remarkable. And Archer's mental strength had to be formidable to completely ignore the whispers of the weapon that incited him to kill living things to feed it.

He recently discovered that his new ability to see the history of a weapon at a glance was actually structural grasp. He didn't know why its effectiveness suddenly increased so much, as with the projection, but he sensed it had something to do with Archer.

They continued walking for a while, until suddenly there were no more traps. It was strange, and for a moment they thought they had gone astray. However, they continued to advance until they reached a clearing, where they found the castle. It was a pretty big building, with white walls and full of windows, and blue slashes.

Archer turned to look at Rin with a questioning expression. "Is it normal for chimneys to cast so much smoke at this time?"

Indeed, above the roof of the building you could see a column of smoke.

"I doubt it. What's going on in there? Don't tell me what's-" Rin was interrupted when one of the castle walls literally exploded.

"A fight!" Shirou shouted in alarm.

"But, the only remaining servant who may be involved is Lancer. Why would his master have decided to attack Berserker so suddenly?" Saber analyzed maintaining calm.

"There's no time to find out. We have to go see what's going on."

After saying that, Archer ran to the castle's main entrance, followed by Saber and the two masters.

Once at the door, Archer opened it slowly to keep quiet, and the four of them peered out to see what was going on inside. What they saw was shocking, to say the least.

A few meters from them, was the blond man with whom all except Saber had ever met, with his back to them and dressed in his usual black tracksuit. His hands were in his pockets, and behind him there were numerous golden undulations, from which several noble phantasms of all kinds came out at great speed.

"ROOOOAAAAR!" Berserker was at the other end of the room, near stairs leading to the next room of the Castle. He was swinging his stone axe-sword frantically, deflecting as many noble phantasms as possible that were thrown at him.

A few meters behind the giant servant, was Illya, partially hidden behind the stairs, watching in horror as her servant was brutally slaughtered by the immense rain of noble phantasms.

There was also Shinji, watching everything with a confident smile from a corner of the room filled with debris.

Everyone was too distracted by the fight to notice the new viewers.

"No way..." Shirou and Rin turn pale seing the scene in front of them. To see how the strongest servant was defeated so easily and simply was really shocking.

Archer watched the fight with a serious expression and an analytical look. With a glance at the weapons of all kinds and forms that were being fired, he could know the identity of the servant, and it was not good news. It was not noble phantasms, but the nameless original prototypes that gave rise to them. There was only one heroic spirit who could possess all those weapons, the oldest of all them.

As much as the servant of madness tried to defend himself and divert the guns fired at him, he couldn't take them all, they were just too many, and his huge body made him an easy target. Finally, a sword landed on his forehead, and followed by several landed on his chest.

"That makes eleven! You are running out of opportunities, Heracles!" the blond servant exclaimed with a perverse smile.

"Archer?" Saber whispered in surprise, recognizing the servant before them.

Archer turned to look at her, but immediately realized that she was not referring to him, but to the mysterious blond servant.

His mind began to work at full speed. He had previously considered the possibility that he was the servant Ruler, but it still did not add up. If so, he should have announced himself to the other servants in the first place and not kept in the shadows, and he should have stoped Caster for involving people outside the War.

Seeing, as the man was now openly fighting another servant, the theory was totally discarded. Still, how could the supervisor invoke a second servant Archer if that vessel was already occupied by himself? And how did Saber know him?

"ROOOOAAAAR!" Berserker roared again as his noble phantasm revived him, using the second-to-last life he had left. The noble phantasm nailed to his body were ejected in the process and dispersed in specks of golden light, similar to when Archer dissipated a projection.

"Berserker, don't lose!"

Hearing his little master's desperate cry, Berserker roared again, and his body shone red from the power that flooded it. The black giant continued to advance in a hopeless charge.

That was the nature of this fight. If Berserker manages to reach the blond servant, it would be his victory. So the mysterious servant had to kill the black giant before he came near. Still, it was already known who would win.

It was impossible for Berserker to get close, but still, he kept moving. It wasn't because he was in a state of madness, but because he had to protect his master. So, he kept going and recieving all the attacks.

"Heh, as expected of a mad dog, you only know fighting. I thought you could offer more as a fellow demigod, but this is a disappointment. I'll finish this now."

The blond man raised his right hand and behind him appeared even more golden undulations. They all fired a weapon in unison.

Berserker deflected the majority, but inevitably ended up dying.

However...

"¡ROOOOAAAAR!" He roared again and rose again, shaking the noble phantasms of his body.

"What?" The blond servant was surprised, and no wonder.

Although Berserker still had one life left, the damage caused had been immense. His noble phantasm barely kept him alive, and most fatal wounds did not heal. But the mad servant continued to charge forward despite his dying body.

"How does a mere target like you refuse to die at once?"

At last, Berserker managed to catch up with his opponent. He swung his axe-sword with all his might to crush him. Only the wind that generated the attack was already harmful.

The blond servant, far from trying to avoid it, stood still and spoke a few words." Chains of Heaven!"

Immediately, the space around Berserker was filled with golden undulations, and from them sprang numerous chains that enveloped and immobilized Berserker's body.

"¡ROOOOAAAAR!"

The black giant tried to escape, but it was useless. Despite the immense power of Berserker, the chains did not loosen a little, it is more, they tightened their grip more and more.

"Tsk. You are still alive, despite the attack of the chains that managed to hold the Bull of the Heavens."

"Berseker, come back to me!" After shouting her command, the command seals scattered throughout Illya's body were illuminated.

A few moments went by and nothing happened. "What? Why didn't it work!?"

"Of course not, doll. These are the Chains of Heaven. Nothing can escape its bondage, even a God. No, the more divinity the target possesses, the stronger they will bind it."

"Berserker no!"

The space behind the blond servant was again filled with undulations and weapons rained down on Berserker's helpless body.

The fight ended there. The mad servant received twenty-two noble phantasm in his body. There was no way he could survive that. His body was rendered inert, still bound by golden chains.

"It can't be... Berserker."

The sorrowful voice of his master was the only thing that could be heard throughout the room.

The blond servant drew a sword from another undulation and walked toward Illya. When he was close, he swung the sword lazily, aiming at her eyes.

But, instead of cutting off the girl's red eyes, the blade struck a black oriental sword with a red hexagonal pattern.

Unnoticed, Archer had positioned himself next to Illya. The whole room was silent again.

Shirou stood still looking at Archer. He himself had already started running towards the girl, dragging Rin, who tried to stop him from doing something foolish.

Saber had already materialized her magical armor and sword and was about to step in, but Archer reacted much faster.

"Archer?" Illya glared at the servant who had just saved her, but he did not respond.

Both archers were staring at each other. The amount of murderous intent they both gave away was huge. That was why everyone was silent.

Even Shinji's smile faded and fear began to show on his face. He looked like he was still traumatized by his previous encounter with Archer.

Suddenly, Archer broke contact with the blades, grabbed Illya with his right arm and jumped to the left. The ground where they found themselves moments before was skewered by several noble phantasms.

"Annoying mongrel. Last time I let you live because I wanted to entertain myself. This time I will make sure to completely exterminate your miserable existence."

Before either of them could do anything, the chains that kept Berserker's body binded exploded.

"What!?" In one last desperate charge, Berserker tried to crush the blond servant with his own hands.

In front of him, a golden undulation appeared. From it came a red spear, much like Lancer's, which impaled Berserker's heart, killing him once and for all. The black giant's body fell back as it dispersed in prana specks

Taking advantage of the distraction, Archer jumped again with Illya to regroup with Saber and their masters. In the middle of the air, he threw the Kanshou in his left hand toward the blond servant's back.

After snapping his tongue, he leapt to evade the married sword and landed at the top of the stairs at the back of the room.

Archer left Illya next to Rin and Shirou, and stood before them along with Saber.

"Onii-chan!? And Rin. What are you doing here!?" The girl could not help but ask, surprised that they had come to her rescue.

Rin grimaced at how Illya referred to her as if she were left over, but Shirou responded before her.

"Well, we came because we wanted to discuss some business with you, and we came up with... this. We couldn't just let you be killed."

llya looked at him surprised and confused, after all, she always thought he was her enemie.

"Oh you're here, too, Saber. I see the Faker finally stopped fooling around and killed the witch once and for all."

"What are you doing here, Archer?" Saber asked in a mortally serious tone.

"It's not obvious? When the previous war ended, I stayed in this world."

"That's impossible."

"I am the only servant to whom the Holy Grail bathed. Ten years ago, I already arranged my reincarnation at this time. Yes, merit is all yours, Saber. I am more familiar with it than anyone else, because when you eviscerated it, I saw what was inside. At that moment, I decided that I'll be the only one that would use it."

"That you would use the Holy Grail?"

"That's right. The ceremony to invoke the Holy Grail is nonsense. A battle between seven masters? A ceremony where only the one left alive can get the Holy Grail? That's just a cover. The Holy Grail was already invoked. Each time the seven servants are called after preparing the Holy Grail. Do you understand, King of Knights? What they need is not the Grail, but what is inside it. The magus prepared the Holy Grail, but they could never prepare what it contains. Therefore, the first thing they did was to invoke the content, deceiving the ignorant magus and servants."

Rin was the first to realize what hia explanation implied, although Illya and Archer already knew perfectly well what he was talking about.

"I see that you quickly realized Tohsaka. The Holy Grail is filled with the purest prana. What they wanted were the strongest souls, those who can be called guardians."

"It can't be..."

"The more sacrifices, the better. If six servant souls are cast into the fire, it will be almighty. For the magus it will be an inexhaustible source of energy. The doll there can confirm it."

Everyone looked at Illya, who nodded in response.

"Then, only the masters can use it. If the Holy Grail stores pure prana, only magus can use it." It seemed that Saber would crumble at any moment.

"That's not all, is it?"

They all turned to look at Archer, who first intervened in the conversation.

"If you saw what's inside the Holy Grail, then you must know it. That the Holy Grail is totally corrupted by the servant Avenger, and making a wish will only cause destruction."

With that, Saber, Rin and Shirou remembered why they had gone there, and the realization hit them. The servant Archer of the previous war put on a perverse smile.

"Oh, so the Faker already knew from the beginning. I guess the worm told you before you exterminated him."

"Is it true, then, that the Grail is corrupt?" Saber asked, as sweat fell on her forehead.

"Yes. Think ten years ago, Saber. When I was about to get the Grail. Your sword split the Grail in two."

"Saber destroyed the Holy Grail?!" Rin asked totally surprised.

The blond servant continued whithout paying any attention to her. "The remains that fell became flames and razed the city. I, who was just below, tasted its violence all over my body. I then discovered what the Holy Grail was. It is absurd, but it has its uses. Among all the weapons that exist, there is none that specializes so much in killing. The Holy Grail is a door to Hell, once opened, let out countless curses."

"So, your goal is to destroy humans?"

"Yes, I want to exterminate the humans of this time." His response came in an indifferent tone, surprising everyone present.

"This is a fun world, but at the same time incorrigible. The rejoicing of so many mongrels is an affront to the King."

"An affront to the King? If a single human dies, it will make the King lose his meaning!"

"If they are extinguished it does not matter. If they are extinguished because of their sin, they do not deserve to live. I do not want mongrels. Those who are truly worth using are those who can survive even hell. In that sense, the last was a failure. If they are extinguished by such flames, then humans are too weak."

The King of Heroes ended his speech by looking at Shirou and Archer with an arrogant smile. For the first time in a long time, Shirou's expression was filled with anger, and the temperature around Archer dropped a few degrees.

"I do not know what the magus who created the Holy Grail intended, but it will be useful to me. Death will fall on humans equally. A bottomless murderous darkness that they themselves created. It is a suitable hunting dog to entrust to you with my work."

"If that's your goal, then you and I are enemies." Those words were uttered coldly by Archer, as he traced Kanshou and Bakuya.

"Heh, enemies? You overestimate yourself very much, Faker. I'll take care of exterminating you and the other mongrel and I'll take the two vessels."

After saying that, he raised his arm and the space behind him was filled with golden undulations. Each of them fired a noble phantasm in the direction of the two servants and the three masters.

Time seemed to slow down as death approached.

Saber hurried to stand in front of everyone and set out to shoot the invisible air covering her blade to deflect the approaching weapons. But she was interrupted by the words Archer spoke behind her.

"Trace on!"

Behind Archer appeared several weapons suspended in the air. They were exactly like the noble phantasm approaching at high speed. In a blue flash, they were all shot forward.

With millimetre precision, they all collided with their counterpart, filling the room with metal blasts and squeaks. King of Heroes' weapons broken with the clash against Archer's projections or were deflected sideways.

Everyone stared at Archer with their faces full of surprise. To see that the attack that slaughtered Berserker was easily countered with the same ease was equally shocking.

"You're gonna have to try harder than that, King of Heroes. After all, you're not facing just a Faker, you're facing the King of Fakers!"

Despite the desperate situation, Archer remained calm. His voice did not waver, and his serious expression was also full of determination.

Gilgamesh's face shriveled in anger. "How dare you create those filthy falsifications of the King's treasures, mongrel! When I'm done with you there'll be nothing left of your counterfeit existence!"

Gate of Babylon opened further behind Gilgamesh and began shooting an endless shower of weapons, this time, all aimed at Archer.

This one began to run towards the golden servant. Around him were constantly projected copies of the weapons thrown at him, which were immediately fired to counter or divert the original counterpart.

The speed at which both to shot noble phantasms was not the same. The time it took Archer to trace the noble phantasms was longer than it took weapons to pass through the Gate of Babylon.

Every time a new weapon was thrown at him, through his eyes, Archer used structural grasp on it and its plane was reproduced and stored in his reality marble. Immediately, passing at full speed through the seven steps of the tracing, the weapon was projected and fired at the original.

That little delay, even if it took less than a second, caused Archer to be unable to match the firing speed of the Gate of Babylon.

Therefore, he was constantly dodging and deflecting the weapons that he could not counter with his projections with the pair of married swords in his hands.

It was the same kind of battle that had just taken place a few moments ago. Archer's only chance to defeat the golden servant was to approach him and force him into a close combat.

The King of Heroes had never bothered to learn how to handle a sword properly, while Archer was an expert at it because of the countless times he was on the battlefield.

In addition, Archer's magecraft gave him an unfair advantage that Berserker had not had.

King of Fakers managed to reach the bottom of the stairs. The distance between him and his opponent was only a few meters. He had almost done it.

But, to everyone's surprise, instead of jumping towards Gilgamesh, he jumped to one side.

A blue and red blur went through one of the windows and crashed into the ground where Archer had been.

The same blur came out of the crater it had created when it fell and pounced on Archer. He crossed Kanshou and Bakuya over his head and blocked the red spear that descended on him. The force of the attack made him shudder.

The entire room was silenced by Lancer's unexpected entrance. Even Gilgamesh stopped his attack. No one had noticed him except Archer, who felt his murderous intent directed at himself even with Lancer outside the building.

"Lancer, are you working with him!?" Archer was the first to break the silence.

"Heh, I wouldn't normally work with guys like him, but my cowardly master and he are allies."

After saying that, Lancer increased the force with which he pressed Archer. This one increased his body reinforcement to the limit and managed to force the spear upwards. He then uncrossed his blades and kicked the spear on a rotating kick, forcing Lancer to step back.

The blue servant did not stand idly by and sent a kick to the red archer's chest. Archer dodged it by jumping back, and adopted his characteristic posture upon landing.

"I'm sorry, Goldie, but I have a score to settle with him, so I'll borrow it."

After saying that, both serfs became blurs and continued their fight.

Gilgamesh grimaced and diverted his attention to the door. "Kotomine, what are you and your dog doing here?"

Shirou, Rin, Saber, and Illya turned to look behind them, and saw the supervisor coming through the castle door.

"I apologize for my intrusion, my King. I saw Rin and Emiya heading here with their servants and thought they might cause you some trouble."

"Of course finishing all of them at once is no problem for the King. Are you trying to offend me, Kotomine?" The last part was said in a tone that promised pain.

The 'false priest' bowed at once. "No, my King. I fully trust your great power. But you must remember that we need the vessels for the Holy Grail in good condition. So why don't I take care of them while you deal with Saber, my King?" At the end of his speech, Kirei put on a perverse smile as he looked at Rin and Illya.

Gilgamesh put on the same smile. "Well, I'll leave it to you." Meanwhile, he turned around to look at Saber, as the Gate of Babylon reopened behind him, revealing the blades of various weapons. "Why don't we finish what we started in the previous war, Saber?"

The King of Knights swallowed saliva and reasserted her position before the masters.

Weapons began to rain down on her. Saber stood firm, deflecting them all by repeatedly shooting the invisible air that enveloped her sacred sword.

She couldn't dodge the noble phantasms. If she did, all the people behind her would die. Her only hope was to hold out long enough for Archer to defeat Lancer and return to her aid.

Meanwhile, Kirei walked slowly towards the masters.

"False priest, so you were still alive. Isn't it against the rules to participate in the war when you're the supervisor?" Rin asked as she forced herself to remain calm.

Shirou was debating whether to try to help Saber or stay with Rin. It was impossible for him at this time to match Archer's projection to counter the Golden Servant's attack. He also didn't know about Kotomine Kirei's combat capabilities, and whether Rin could defeat him alone or need help.

Illya snuggled behind her 'Onii-chan'. Normally, she would be the first to fight the sinister priest. She was no stranger to the battlefield, the hellish training she went through before arriving at Fuyuki made sure of it.

However, right now she was still afflicted by the death of her maidens and the brutal defeat of her precious servant. He was the only one close to her and who did not treat her as a tool. With her emotions so unstable, she was in no condition to fight.

"In spite of that, you seem very calm, Rin. As I thought, you already knew, didn't you?"

"Of course. Although I didn't imagine you were deceving me from the beginning."

"From the beginning?" The priest expanded his perverse smile while asking.

"Kirei, what...?"

Are you referring to the beginning of this Holy Grail War? Or, 'the beginning' of which you speak is the previous Holy Grail War?"

The realization hit Rin. "I see. So you were the one who killed my dad."

"Of course. He was my instructor. Deceving him was very easy."

Rin couldn't hold it back any longer and burst into anger. "You son of a bitch! Get lost on the road to hell! They won't even want you there! They would throw you out of there because the others would look like mere scoundrels!"

While Rin cursed the man, she started shooting several Gandrs. Most did not even go in his direction, because Rin was blinded by anger and hatred.

The supervisor avoided them without much effort as he crossed the distance quickly. Rin couldn't react in time, and the priest's fist hit her chest. She spat a little blood and flew back a few feet, unconscious as she fell to the ground.

"Rin!"

"Tohsaka!"

Saber was distracted as she turned to look at Rin, and a sword stabed into her thigh, forcing her to kneel.

Gilgamesh laughed at it. "You should leave them, Saber! Otherwise, you will have no chance of beating me!"

Saber snapped her tongue as she drew the sword from her leg and rose again.

The fight between Archer and Lancer had moved outside the castle. From the inside you could hear explosions and metal clashes. They were both very even, and it seemed like it wouldn't end unless one of them used his noble phantasm.

The priest walked towards the unconscious Rin. "The vessel does not need a heart."

"Hey, Kotomine! This was not part of the deal! You told me Rin would be mine!" Shinji, who had been ignored by everyone until now, yelled at Kirei as he approached him.

"Plans have changed, Shinji. Now that we have everything we need, you are no longer needed."

"What...!" What was he going to say was interrupted when the priest punched him in the face and sent him flying unconscious toward the door.

"I'll take your heart." After saying that, Kotomine put his hand in tension and prepared to rip Rin's heart out.

"Get your hands off Rin, you bastard!" Shirou ran to the priest as he traced Kanshou and Bakuya and forced him to leave Rin.

He continued to attack the priest mimicking Archer's fighting style, but his opponent dodged all without a hitch.

In the middle of one of the swings, Kirei struck Shirou's wrist with his left hand and deflected his attack, creating an opening. Before Shirou could react, Kirei's palm was stamped on his chest and slid back a few feet, spitting blood.

The difference in combat experience between the two was abysmal. Therefore, even reinforcing his body, Shirou was unable to land an attack.

The priest threw himself at Shirou, but stopped suddenly when something grazed his cheek and caused a slight burn.

"Get away from Onii-chan, priest. If anyone is going to kill him, it's me." Illya had finally reacted and summoned a couple of familiar birds.

Kirei looked at her for a few moments, then jumped at her. The threaded birds opened fire on him to defend their mistress and Kirei was forced to zigzag to dodge prana shells.

He took out a set of three Black Keys in each hand, the weapons created by the Church to be used by their executioners against demons and evil spirits, and threw them at the familiars, cutting them out.

Before Illya could create more, Kirei quickly crossed the distance between them and hit Illya's neck, knocking her out. Before she fell to the ground, he grabbed her little body and charged her in nuptial style.

"I won't let you!" Shirou ran back to him, but he was late.

The priest jumped and landed next to the King of Heroes.

"We already have the receptacle of the Grail, my King. If you allow me, I shall go for the vessel."

"Hmm, no matter, with the doll is more than enough. I am getting bored of playing with Saber. Because of her incompetent master, her power was reduced and her brightness is no longer the same. It's time to end this."

Just then, the roof exploded and a couple of red and blue blurs crashed between the King of Heroes and the King of Knights.

Archer and Lancer were struggling with their weapons. Unlike before, the pair of married swords in the hands of King of Fakers were in their form of trace overedge. In that form, the blade extended to twice its original length, and the blunt edge exploded into steel splinters, taking on an appearance reminiscent of a crane's wing.

In exchange for becoming more lethal, the married swords became much more fragile, because the blade was fragmented and barely held together by the reinforcing magecraft.

With this form, Archer was able to solve the problem of the reach of his weapons.

The struggle lasted a few moments, until Kanshou and Bakuya exploded violently because of Archer's prana burst, and Lancer was thrown down the stairs at the end of the hall.

Archer took a few moments to observe the situation around. Saber was gasping, she had barely any energy left and she had to use her sword as support to keep standing. She no longer even had prana to maintain the invisible air around her sword, showing to those present the true form of Excalibur.

With Saber in that state, Rin unconscious and Illya having been captured, the only one left fit to fight was Shirou.

Although his skills had greatly improved during the war, the two of them alone could not defeat Lancer and Gilgamesh together. Deploying the Unlimited Blade Works might help him turn the tables against one of the two servants, but not the two together.

"Kotomine, make your dog do something productive and finish the job."

"Are you sure, my king? It's likely that Saber will also die."

"If she can't survive your dog's attack, then she's not worthy of being my wife."

The priest nodded and raised his left arm, revealing the large number of command seals he had as supervisor.

"All right then. By my command seal, Lancer, I order you to use your noble phantasm and destroy them!"

The Irish lancer snapped his tongue annoyed as his spear was wrapped in a lot of red prana.

"Damn priest killjoy. It was getting fun. I'm just asking you to have a good fight and you go and screw it. Anyway, Archer, you've heard of my spear, right?"

"Of course. Gae Bolg, the spear that reverses the cause and effect and always pierces the heart. A noble phantasm deadly, but useless if you're not close enougth." Archer responded by playing along.

For the first time, Archer started sweating. The situation was really bad.

Lancer leaned forward, resting his left hand on the ground, preparing to charge. "You're right, but spears can also be used this way. I would have liked to continue our fight, but I am forced to end this. Take this hit as a gift to someone who's going to die."

After saying that, Lancer charged a few meters forward, then slowed down and made a big jump back, reaching practically to the ceiling of the room, or what was left of it.

Archer's mind set to work at full speed to find a way out of that situation. When Gae Bolg was thrown, it became a anti-army noble phantasm. Dodging it wasn't an option, the spear will always hit the target, and he couldn't let Saber, Shirou and Rin die. Facing the attack head-on was the only possible option.

With the plane of the noble phantasm he chose for it, he extended his right hand forward to trace it.

"All behind me!" His voice left no room for doubt.

Saber and Shirou stood behind Archer, and Shirou brought Rin, still unconscious, with him.

"Gae Bolg!" Lancer shouted the noble phantasm and threw his spear. The spear flew at high speed towards Archer, becoming a red bullet.

"_I am the bone of my sword. _Rho Aias!"

A shield in the form of a seven-petalled purple flower composed of seven layers materialized in front of Archer. Rho Aias: The Seven Rings that Cover the Fieri Heavens, the shield used by Ajax the Great to stop Hector's spear in the Trojan War. Its existence was sublimated in the form of the ultimate conceptual weapon to stop projectiles.

It was certainly the strongest defense Archer had in his arsenal. No spear so far had been able to pass even the first layer.

Gae Bolg struck the shield and began to exert immense force to try to get through. Everything seemed to be going well, Aias seemed to be stopping the spear.

But, suddenly the first layer began to crack.

Moments later, the first layer snapped, and the spear hit the second layer. Archer shuddered when his body received the damage to the shield.

The layers of the shield began to progressively break under the tremendous pressure exerted by Gae Bolg.

"Guh! Not even Aias can stop it. It is much more powerful than the original Gungnir."

Archer's body was lacerated and he started bleeding everywhere. However, his determination to protect the people behind him did not falter. He stood firm despite the state of his body and continued to pump prana into the shield.

The sixth layer exploded, and the seventh was beginning to crack. They didn't seem to make it.

Archer's legs began to tremble because of the unbearable pain he was feeling. Suddenly, he noticed some hands resting on his back and arm.

It was Saber. She was helping him to stand still and was pouring the little prana that was left in the last layer.

Behind her was also Shirou helping her to stand up. His face was beginning to turn pale and he was sweating at sea because of all the prana he was supplying to his servant.

Archer's eyes crossed with both of them, and the three of them nodded.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"

The three shouted as they made the last effort and pumped out all the prana they had left in the concept weapon.

After that, the spear detonated.

The massive explosion destroyed the walls and what was left of the roof, leaving only the door behind Archer and the others.

As luck would have it, Shinji was unconscious there and survived. Still, the debris had left his body in pretty bad shape.

The stairs, where Gilgamesh and Kirei were observing the scene, and the part behind the castle were unharmed.

The dust and smoke settled, revealing Archer kneeling in very bad condition. His armor shattered, the upper parts of his red cloak were gone and his right arm completely disabled because of all the injuries he had.

Behind him, Shirou and Saber lay, gasping and struggling to catch their breath, almost on the edge of unconsciousness.

"Who the hell are you?" Lancer, couldn't help but wonder as they had survived his most powerful attack.

The face of the King of Heroes wrinkled with irritation at the sight of the scene. "Kotomine, your dog is so useless that he cannot end half-dead mongrels! It is pitiful that the King has to finish his work!"

Archer watched helplessly as the Gate of Babylon was opened and the blade of various weapons peeked out. He had not a drop of prana left, he could barely keep it materialized thanks to his Independent Action ability. The same thing happened with Saber and Shirou.

They really needed a miracle to get out of this.

The noble phantasm fell upon them without mercy. It seemed that all was over for them.

And it would have happened, but, for the great surprise of all, that miracle alredy happened.

A great flash of white light descended from the sky at high speed in front of Archer and the others. The weapons that had been fired by the King of Heroes were repelled as they came into contact with the mysterious flash.

"What!?" It was the only thing that went through everyone's mind.

The light dimmed, letting all those presents be seen to be that which had made an appearance.

It was a majestic white horse with a pair of wings on its back. Its body seemed to be made of pure prana, and the power it unleashed was immense, comparable to that of dragons, the most powerful phantasmal species.

Archer immediately recognized the woman riding the divine beast, using her nameless pair of daggers as reins.

"Rider?"

The woman turned to look at Archer. "Don't misunderstand. I only came to pay my debt to you for saving my master. I'll distract them while you run."

Archer knew Rider was simply pretending to be disinterested, most likely Sakura would order her to watch over and protect them. But that was not the time to discuss it.

"Now the snake also came to disturb the King!? I knew I should have finished with you when the Faker didn't. The King's patience is nearing its end!" Gilgamesh's even more irritated voice was heard in the background.

Rider turned to look at them and removed the blindfold that covered her eyes, the Breaker Gorgon. Her mystical eyes, Cybele, were activated, and the effect on Gilgamesh, Lancer and Kirei was immediate. All three were paralyzed and their bodies slowly began to petrify as they tried to look away.

Archer turned to look at Saber and Saber nodded. She helped Shirou up and they both started leaving as fast as they could.

King of Fakers looked at Illya's unconscious body in Kotomine's arms and clenched his fists impotently. He was tired of having to choose between saving one or the other and only being able to minimize the damage.

"Archer, don't just stand there! We can return to rescue her when we've recovered! If you don't save yourself and Rin first, that won't be possible!"

The shout of Saber made him react and I look at Rin still unconscious near him. He shook his head to refocus and charged his body on his left shoulder.

"Good luck, Rider." After saying those last words as a farewell, he ran off with Saber.

On the way, he took Shinji's battered body from the rubble with his right arm, which has been partially recovered, and I carry him as well.

"Heh, what a strange man. I would have liked to have known him more"

"Your pathetic eyes will not stop the King!" The King of Heroes managed to react and the Gate of Babylon reopened. Rider had to take flight to dodge the torrent of noble phantasm, taking her eyes off them.

The effect of her mystical eyes ceased and their bodies ceased to petrify. They were close to being turned into stone. The worst affected was Kirei being a human. His body had turned to stone to his chest. The only one who was unharmed was Illya when she was unconscious.

The King of Heroes, full of anger, continued to bombard Rider with noble phantasm. Most of them had the ability to pursue their target, just like Hrunting.

Rider, flaunting her A+ rank Riding Skill, dodged and slid through the projectiles gracefully, taking more and more height.

When Medusa was practically a white dot in the sky, she began to descend at great speed. The divine beast wrapped itself in light again, looking like a blue comet.

"Bellerophon!" Her intention was to crash into them, causing an explosion of the level of a noble anti-army phantasm.

Gilgamesh continued to fire weapons in his direction, noble phantasm of the highest rank. But it was useless. Although some managed to wound the beast, at the speed it was going, it could no longer be stopped with those attacks.

When the beast was about to strike, the King of Heroes had no choice but to use one of his trump cards.

"Chains of Heaven!" The space around the Pegasus was filled with golden undulations, and the same chains that bound Heracles, wrapped themselves around the divine beast and Rider, and stopped them at once.

Because of its high rank of divinity, the chains were practically suffocating the beast. Although the divinity of Medusa had been drastically reduced by her legend, Enkidu remained a very difficult chain to break.

Both were completely at the mercy of Gilgamesh.

He opened a golden portal and took out a jar filled with a red liquid. He removed the stopper and drank about half. The elixir took effect and his legs became flesh and blood again. He then passed the bottle to Kotomine.

"Normally I would not share any of my treasures with anyone, but I will make an exception for you as you were useful to me, Kotomine."

"My most sincere gratitude my King."

The King turned to look upon his defenseless opponent. "I never thought I'd be forced to use my most precious treasure twice in one day. Your sacrifice will be in vain, but at least you will have the honor of forcing me to use my friend's treasure, snake."

The glimmer of a confident smile appeared on Rider's face. "You're wrong. I'm sure that man will defeat you."

Gilgamesh drew a nameless sword from his treasure and positioned himself next to Rider. "The only reason I didn't finish them is because that would be boring. Die blinded in your illusions, reduced goddess."

The sword descended mercilessly and beheaded Rider. Both the divine beast and the servant vanished into specks of prana.

Kirei, already recovered, approached the golden servant. "Should I send Lancer to pursue them?"

"No. Why chase some rats that run away with their tail between their legs if we have what they want? Sooner or later they'll come to us to try and stop us and save the doll. In the meantime, we will begin preparations to invoke the Holy Grail's Hole."

"And what about the Grail's receptacle?"

Gilgamesh showed a perverse smile." We'll let her live, so she'll be a better lure. If they can still save her, they'll come as soon as possible."

Gilgamsh looked at his hand. "It is shameful to admit it, but I can feel it in my own being. That Faker, no, the King of Fakers, is my natural enemy. We are polar opposites. Therefore..." He closed his fist tightly. "I am going to personally crush him. Tell your dog I'll kill him if he interferes with my business again, Kotomine."

"Understood, my King."

* * *

**And that's all for now. Did you expect them to beat Gilgamesh at first? Once again, reality proved cruel, and our protagonists were completely defeated. Although looking on the bright side, Illya did not die violently with her heart ripped out, so there's still a chance she could be saved.**

**Also, what did you think of Rider's endi? Of course I wasn't going to put her aside after stopping her from dying at Kuzuki's hands.**

**On a separate note, you may have noticed that I relied on the version of the visual novel for the fight between Berserker and Gilgamesh. Unlike the adaptation of Ufotable, where they make out that Berserker loses by protecting Illya and not attacking, in the original version it conveys splendidly as is the fight in reality. A one-sided massacre where Gilgamesh doesn't lift a finger and destroys Beserker, who can barely move forward.**

**Also, the fight between King of Heros and King of Fakers was interrupted by Lancer. Don't worry, as Gilgamesh himself said, that fight will take place. And as I said with the fight against the Primate Murder, it will be all that high. Also the epic phrase that King of Fakers said to Gilgamesh is one of the reasons why I chose his title in the first place.**

**Now, speaking of the next chapter, it will basically be the preparation for the final battle, and the talk between Archer and Shirou will take place. And, as you may have noticed, it is almost finished. I don't know when I will update, because my exams are close, but it will be soon. It's not something I've done so far, but I'll leave you a little Fate-style advance at the end.**

**Without much more to say, as always, I appreciate the follows, favs and any kind of constructive review. I would also like to know what you think of this chapter or if anyone has any questions.**

**With this I say goodbye for now, until we meet again.**

* * *

**Rin: "I can't accept the way you lived."**

**Shirou: "No kiding? Then I guess we're both copy cats. I'll catch up to you soon."**

**Archer: "That's what 'cath up to me' will lead you, Emiya Shirou."**

**Saber: "He... he really made it."**


	9. Chapter 8

**We meet again, people. You don't expect to update so soon, but, here is the next chapter of this story. In this chapter we will look at the preparations for the final battle and the confrontation between Shirou and King of Fakers over their ideals.**

**I got a complaint about the brief fight between Archer and Gilgamesh. Well, even though King of Fakers is more powerful than EMIYA, his tracing still doesn't match the speed of the Gate of Babylon. In what it surpasses EMIYA's tracing is that the projections were closer to the quality and power of the original weapons.**

**But that is secondary. My point is that the fight of the previous chapter is just a preamble to the real battle, which will be in the last chapter, the climax of the war. If I had extended the fight of the previous chapter and made it more epic, the fight I plan for the final chapter would have lost its grace. The fight could have been omitted perfectly and Lancer appeared at first.**

**But anyway, it's always good to hear the opinion of my readers. Without further ado, let the chapter begin.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any right over Type-Moon or Fate franchise.**

* * *

We barely made it to the Emiya residence. At least I was able to regenerate thanks to Rin's vast magical reserves, but that was not the case with Saber. With her master equally exhausted of prana, they would both have to sleep a few hours to recover.

I took charge of treating both the wounds of Shirou and those of Shinji, with some help of an insistent Saber despite her lamentable state

Even though I really didn't like the Matou boy, I wasn't going to let him bleed to death in the middle of the woods either.

I left Shirou and Saber sleeping in their room and went to check on Rin.

She was the least injured. Apparently, the priest took advantage of the wounds of her past to destabilize her emotionally and knock her out easily in one hit.

I sat at the desk in the western room where my master rested and waited. To my surprise, it was barely half an hour before she woke up.

For some reason, there were traces of tears in her eyes. She passed the back of her hand to wipe them off and turned to look at me as she had just peeled.

"Archer... What happened after I blacked out?"

"We were completely defeated. We barely escaped because Rider came to our rescue and sacrificed herself to buy us time. Now they have Illya, and they will soon prepare the Holy Grail to release the evil within it upon the world."

I summed up exactly the worrying situation in which we found ourselves, although because of her lack of reaction, she seemed to be expecting it.

"I see... we really screwed up this time."

"Tomorrow night we're gonna have to go stop them and rescue Illya. When Shirou and Saber wake up, we'll begin preparations."

Time was something we didn't have on our side. The King of Heroes had to be stopped as soon as possible. Otherwise, the humanity of this age will be lost.

"Tell me, Archer. Why are you so focused on saving Illyasviel? Until recently she was our enemy."

That question caught me a little by surprise. I suppose I'd have to reveal the last piece of information he lacked to know about the Holy Grail system.

"Well, she's the lesser grail the Einzberns sent to war. Her function is to be the vessel that contains the souls of the servants who are defeated. If we rescue her, their plan will be thwarted. Also, I can't let an innocent girl who was sent here on a suicide misión die."

She stared at me for a few moments. "That's just an excuse, right? You'd go save her even if she had nothing to do with the war."

She was able to see through me easily. "You're right on that, Rin."

"That's why I can't accept it."

"Huh-"

"I can't accept the way you lived. You dedicated your whole life to making others happy, but in return, you died completely alone, unable to be as happy. In the end, you ended up being a guardian, eternally condemned to serve humanity without rest. I can't believe the people around me couldn't correct your stupid way of life! I can't believe it. It's inconceivable."

To say that her speech shocked me would be a huge understatement. I remained silent for a few moments as my brain finished processing what I had just heard.

"Well... I never stopped to think about it that way. No one had confronted me about it either. But, helping others was always the only thing that made me happy."

"It is probably because of that traumatic experience you had at the beginning of your life. Putting others before yourself is not normal. You have to change that. You have to learn to value yourself more, to have more self-esteem!"

I closed my eyes as I reflected. That explained why she wanted me to have fun. Everything she said was true. It was impossible for a normal person to understand why I would value other people's lives more than mine.

She really cares about me.

What Rin was asking me was to change my shape. If I had been told something like that in my life, someone would have been there to support me and help me change, I might have been able to rethink my lifestyle.

But at this point, it was very difficult to undo something that is so deeply rooted in my being. Ever since I survived that hell while everyone else died, I always thought I didn't deserve those things.

However, her expression showed that she would not give up even if I rejected her. sHE would keep insisting until I could begin to appreciate myself more.

What a stubborn master I have.

In that respect we are alike. I suppose it's normal for master and servant to resemble each other.

She, deep down, is really a good person.

I know that trying to change now will do nothing. When the war is over, I will return to the throne of heroes and remember nothing of what I did here.

But, impossible is not a word that exists in my dictionary. Besides, there's still time to correct something.

I sighed and finally decided my answer.

"I can't make a promise that I'm not sure I can keep. It's too late for me to change. But, I'll try my best. I will strive from now on not to throw away my life so easily. However, I will always continue to think that saving people is not wrong."

In response, Rin showed a smile. "That's fine. I won't ask you to give up your ideals. We need more good people like you in the world."

"Now, even though it's too late for me, we can still do something with the person who wants to follow the same path."

"You mean Emiya-kun, right?"

"I see that you also noticed. He and I are very much alike. If it goes on like this, he will end up like me, or he may end even worse."

"Yes... Are you sure you're not related in any way?"

"I don't think so. As a heroic spirit, I was removed from the cycle of reincarnation, and although my memories are blurred, I can say that I had no offspring."

"With how dense you are, I believe you. And what do you intend to do with Emiya-kun?" Again, I was called dense without knowing why.

"I guess I'll have to have a conversation with him. But, anyway, unlike me, who was always alone, he has you and Sakura. As long as you support him, everything will be fine."

We both remain silent for a few seconds. Rin's expression became one of concern and concern.

"Do you think we can win, Archer?"

I couldn't help but show an ironic smile." If I had stopped to think about my chances of victory, I wouldn't have gone to fight head-on with Beast IV. As desperate as the situation is, stand firm and don't lose hope, Rin. We are going to win, and we are going to show the King of Heroes that he can't mess with humanity."

My motivational speech seemed to have some effect and Rin smiled again. "Then, I'm counting on you, Archer. Next time, I'm gonna teach that fake priest a lesson."

After the conversation, Rin went to prepare something to eat while we waited for Shirou and Saber to wake up.

I kept thinking about how we were going to prepare.

This would be the final battle of the War. The fate of mankind literally depended on the outcome of the battle.

* * *

It was night to when they awoke. After dinner and energy replenishment, we immediately started planning.

I began by reminding them of what we are up against. "We face Gilgamesh, the oldest hero in human history. His noble phantasm is his treasury, which contains the prototypes of all the noble phantasms that exist. Also worth noting are Lancer, Cu Chulainn, one of the most famous heroes of Irish mythology, and Kotomine Kirei, whose combat experience and training as a church executioner makes him an opponent to consider."

I paused in my speech to see that everyone was following me.

"If we want to defeat them, we will have to be in our best condition and we will have to plan the strategy well. To do this, we must stop hiding our abilities, and our identities in the case of Saber and I. I will start myself. Although I don't remember my name because of certain circumstances, legends refer to me as the King of Fakers. My skills are basically the same as Shirou. I specialize in magecraft reinforcement and projection, especially, I excel when it comes to swords because of my unusual origin and element. My noble phantasm is complex to explain, so I'll show you after we're done."

There weren't many reactions after hearing my presentation. I guess at this point, after having fought so many times together, my abilities were no longer a mystery.

We turned to look at Saber. "Well, it's my turn to introduce myself. My real name is Arthuria Pendragon, King of the Knights. I hid my gender during my life, so I am better known as King Arthur, King of Britain and leader of the Round Table. My noble phantasm is the sacred sword, Excalibur."

As she presented herself, she summoned her armor and her sword. The invisible air dissipated, revealing the beautiful form of the last noble phantasm forged by the world. Her aura overflowed with majesty and charisma.

I forced myself to stop looking at her in awe and continued with the talk.

"Well, with that resolved, now let's move on to the preparations. We will need Saber to use all her power, and for that we will also need her master, Shirou, to be able to realize his full potential as well. We will have to solve the problem of his low prana reserves. Does anyone have any idea for that?"

After a few minutes of silence while we were thinking, Rin was finally the first to speak. "Well... I may have a solution for that. I know a method of transferring part of my prana to him." As she spoke, her cheeks turned red as a tomato.

"Then I'll leave it to you, Rin. Let's move on to the next point." I turned to look at Saber. "Saber, you're going to have to use your other noble phantasm in this battle."

She looked at me strangely. "What do you mean by my other noble phantasm? The only noble phantasm with which I was summoned were Excalibur and the invisible air."

"Don't you really know, the reason why Shirou can heal so quickly when you're around?"

She shook her head, and I couldn't help but sigh. "I don't know how it ended there, but the scabbard of your sword is inside Shirou's body."

The eyes of Saber opened like plates. "What?"

"Yes, Avalon, the ever-distant utopia, is fused with his body. I discovered this when I used structural analysis to review his magical circuits. When you are near, the scabbard absorbs the prana that you release and its passive healing is activated."

I could practically see the gears in the head of Saber spinning. Shirou put one hand on his chest and also plunged into his thoughts.

"Perhaps Kiritsugu implanted it when the war ended..." Saber reflected for herself.

Upon hearing it Shirou turned to look at her. "Saber, do you have a relation with my father?"

"Well, I guess I can't keep hiding it. You know I was in the Holy Grail War before this one, right? Emiya Kiritsugu was my master during that war."

After that, Saber told Shirou about his father's actions during the war. Basically, for him, the end justified the means. He committed various atrocities in order to win the war, and in the end ordered Saber to destroy the Grail. A seemingly contradictory action, but most likely he discovered that the Grail was corrupt.

Shirou seemed to have mixed feelings when she discovered a facet of her father she apparently didn't know.

"Going back to the original topic, Saber, we will need you to have your scabbard back if we are to have a chance of winning. But before he gives it back to you, I need you to lend it to Shirou for a while."

"I don't have a problem with that, but why would Shirou need Avalon?" They both looked at me inquisitively.

"I said it before, didn't I? We also need Shirou to reach his full potential. To do that, I thought I'd have a training session with him when we were done. He'll need Avalon so he doesn't have to stop every time he's hurt."

Shirou swallowed audibly at the mention of training, and Rin seemed to understand my intentions.

"In that case, I might as well help-"

"It won't be necessary. This will not be a simple training to improve your skills with sword or magecraft. I have some things to say to him, and he also has something to say to me, don't you, Emiya Shirou?"

"That's right. I need you to stay out this time, Saber. This is something between him and me."

It was inevitable that this would happen. Being such like people, sooner or later we would end up facing each other over our ideals.

"I will give you the time you need to prepare. I will be waiting for you at the dojo." After saying that, I got up and left the living room in the direction of the dojo.

I hardly had to wait about ten minutes until Shirou arrived. He had changed his clothes since this morning, and had put on identical clothes.

He came accompanied by Rin and Saber. They both insisted that they had to witness this. For me there was no problem as long as we were not interrupted.

"I see you're ready. We don't have a lot of time, so I'll cut to the chase. You figured that out, didn't you? You and I are very similar, both in the dreams we pursue, and in our origins. As a heroic spirit, I am the embodiment of the ideals you want to follow. First of all, I need to know more about your story."

As I expected, his story was almost the same as mine. He was one of the survivors of the Fuyuki fire, he was saved and later adopted by Emiya Kiritsugu. He spent a few years under his care, until he died of unknown causes, leaving Shirou's magecraft training incomplete.

However, there was a difference between him and me.

"I see. So becoming a hero of justice wasn't a dream you chose for yourself, but a dream your father couldn't fulfill and you inherited from him. Well, that doesn't matter much as long as that's the path you really want to follow. What matters is what your father taught you. 'Saving everyone is impossible'. You have to get rid of that way of thinking. If not, then it will really be impossible for you to save everyone."

Shirou nodded resolutely to what I said. With that clear, I decided to move on to the next point.

"Now I'm going to ask you a question. Do you really want to become a hero of justice? I don't want you to answer me with words. I want you to show me your determination through your swords."

"Ok then, I'll show you that I'm going to be a hero of justice!"

"Trace, on!"

We both traced Kanshou and Bakuya and pounced on each other.

Our swords clashed violently, and their swords withstood the impact against mine without breaking. That was a good step.

I took the initiative and attacked him with several cuts from different angles. He barely managed to defend himself by imitating my fighting style and was pushed back. Obviously, I was holding back. It wouldn't make sense if I beat him quickly.

I increased my speed and stood behind him. His eyes managed to follow me and he was already turning towards me when I threw him a backhand cut with Bakuya. He crossed both blades and stopped my attack, letting himself be pushed back along with the impulse.

I crossed the distance between us quickly and kept pushing. His reflexes were sharpening more and more. He was able to stop my attacks every time I used my superior speed to position myself at his side or back.

I threw a swing at him with Kanshou, using more force than I was using until now. He crossed his blades in front of him, but these broke upon receiving my attack and he fell back to the ground and slid back several meters.

Using the impulse, he did a back flip and stood up again with a face full of determination. He immediately traced another pair of Kanshou and Bakuya and threw himself at me again.

I deflected his attack to one side and let him pass as I positioned myself again on his back and threw him a backhand cut with Bakuya. He turned as fast as he could, as he swung Kanshou and deflected my attack.

Quickly, he countered with a thrust with Bakuya. I swung down hard with Kanhou and struck the anth of his blade. His projection did not resist the attack and the blade was cut in half.

Without giving him a margin, I threw a thrust at him with Bakuya. He covered himself with the sword that was left in his other hand, and it was also broken. The force of my attack made him slide back a few feet on the wooden floor.

Instead of pushing him further, I stopped to give him some advice.

"Your tracing still has enough left to keep up with mine. Even if you manage to replicate the exterior appearance and materials, it is of no use without a logical structure. Do not rush and make sure you perform the seven steps well."

"Hi!" He responded with motivation and traced back to Kanshou and Bakuya. We crossed swords again. This time, his projections managed to withstand much better the clash against mine.

I stopped one of his attacks, and for a few moments he seemed distracted by looking at our swords. I also noticed something, but I decided to ignore it. My knee crashed into its open right side, causing him to groan in pain and slide to the side.

"Your body is also a weapon!"

He managed to regain his balance without falling, and he confronted me again. He immediately crossed both blades over his head to stop my downward swing with Bakuya. His arms trembled at the strength of my attack.

I set aside his blades and threw him an upward thrust with Kanshou. He managed to put his swords before him and managed to avoid the attack. Both swords shattered again and he was repelled backwards.

To my surprise, he firmly planted his feet on the ground, braking, and again traced the married swords. Imitating my previous movement, he attacked me with a backswing with Bakuya and an upward thrust with Kanshou.

I crossed my swords in front of me and received his attack. The force he used was greater than he had used until now, and he managed to make me retreat.

Rin and Saber looked at him surprised. His skills were increasing at a monstrous pace.

With that last exchange, I could finally understand what was going on.

"I see. I now understand why you are able to improve so quickly. I heard about magecraft that allows you to master old techniques by communicating with past lives and letting them possess you. It seems that by having the same magecraft and our souls being so compatible, every time we cross swords your skills increase to try to pair up with mine."

"No kiding? Then I guess we're both copy cats. I'll catch up to you soon."

"'Catch up to me', huh?"

No wonder he tried, after all, I represent his fulfilled ideals. But that was not the purpose of this training session. Like I promised Rin, I had to keep him from ending up like me, or worse, like that broken man.

"I guess it's time I show you what 'catch up to me' really means."

"_I am the bone of my sword."_

_"Steel is my body and fire is my blood."_

"_I have created more than a thousand blades."_

_"Unaware of loss,"_

_"not aware of gain."_

_"Whistood pain to create weapons, chasing an ever distant dream."_

_"There are no regrets, this is the path I chose."_

_"My whole life was... Unlimited Blade Works!"_

After I finished my aria, the illusory fire spread and the reality around me was rewritten. The next moment, all those present were on the hill of swords. We were in the same positions as in the dojo, me at the top of the hill, Shirou a few meters in front of me, and Saber and Rin on the side.

I placed myself so that Shirou could not see my true noble phantasm. That would ruin the speech I had in mind. They all stared at the world they were now in, Shirou the most.

They all stared at the world they were now in, Shirou the most.

"A reality marble!? One of the greatest magecraft that allows to manifest the inner world of the person who cast it." Rin's strained voice was the first to be heard.

"So, this is your noble phantasm, Archer?" Saber asked with some sadness in her voice.

"Yes. I never possessed any sacred or demonic sword. All I had was this world. If noble phantasms are symbols of heroic spirits, then this reality marble is mine. This world analyzes and stores the planes of all the weapons I've seen. In short, thanks to this world I can project noble phantasms."

"Wait! Don't tell me-!"

"Yes, Shirou must also own a reality marble. Without it, he also could not project noble phantasms. That's why I said our souls are so compatible"

"This... is this desolate wasteland the place where your life ended, Archer? "Saber asked again, looking away with a sad expression on his face.

"That's right. I devoted my whole life to helping others. I gave up any relationship with others to pursue my dream, and I ended up dying all alone on this hill of swords. That's what 'cath up to me' will lead you, Emiya Shirou."

The former expression full of resolve to achieve his ideals was no longer on Shirou's face. Now, in his mind they were beginning to form doubts.

"I will ask you again. Do you really want to pursue an almost unattainable, contradictory and hypocritical dream? Unlike me, you do have loved ones and a home to go back to. Will you get rid of them to keep chasing your dream?"

Shirou looked at Rin. Doubts were beginning to accumulate in his heart.

I ran to him to resume our fight. The fight was now one-sided. The determination that pushed him to break his limits was replaced by doubts that gradually made him lose the will to fight.

He was barely defending himself, his movements were slower and his attacks no longer had a purpose. Within minutes his body was filled with wounds.

"Why do you hesitate!? Aren't you supposed to become a hero of justice!?"

He seemed to react, but it wasn't enough.

Finally, his swords were broken and he ended up getting a cut on his chest. He plummeted back and rolled down a few meters down the hill.

"Shirou!" It was superficial, but the amount of blood that came out alarmed Rin and Saber.

He did not rise again and remained on the floor thoughtfully.

* * *

I was lying on the barren ground of the hill of swords. My body bled in so many places, but that wasn't the reason I couldn't get up.

In front of me was a tall man with tanned skin, white hair and steel eyes. Archer, the King of Fakers.

Ever since we first interacted, I knew. He was the embodiment of my ideals, the hero I wanted to become.

Seeing him fight other servants, I came to admire him. He was like me, he had no talent or gift that made him stand out as Saber or Tohsaka. He simply took the little he had and worked it to such an extent that he could be considered strong.

Seeing him match Assassin's incredible technique or Gilgamesh's overwhelming power with only effort and dedication, made me think I could do it, too. That's why I ended up imitating his style and using his swords.

He was sometimes cold and did not hesitate to kill the enemy, but he always gave them a chance. I felt that deep down, he was really a good person. I didn't have a lot of interactions with him, but I think I could get along with him.

After the fiasco at Einzbern Castle, he even offered to train me. My skills were increasing rapidly with every time we crossed swords. I thought I would no longer be a burden, that I could fight alongside Saber and him. I thought I could catch up to him.

Then, he showed me the cruel reality.

Seeing his inner world, I understood it. He became a hero who saved everyone, but at what cost?

He lived a lonely life, with no home to return to or anyone to support him, to be there for him every time he failed. No wonder he ended up being so stoic and cold at times. He ended up looking more like a sword than a person.

_"The hero lies here alone, forging dreams on a hill of swords."_

I, on the other hand, have Taiga, Sakura, Saber, old Raiga, and Tohsaka. Important people for me and who support me.

'Catching up to him', to follow his path, would mean abandoning them all and dedicating my life entirely to pursuing my dream.

A few days ago, I would have accepted that price without thinking twice. But now... After spending so much time with Rin, I can say I ended up developing feelings for her.

I have long admired her. The date she dragged me to, I can't deny that I had fun, even though I felt I didn't deserve it.

And also, Sakura... after discovering the horrors she's been through, there's no way I can abandon her. Archer told me. He just got rid of the problem, now it's up to Tohsaka and me to be there for her.

My heart was filled with doubts. I really want to become a hero of justice. But, if I follow the path that Archer followed, I would eventually abandon them.

Archer kept looking at me impassively. He wasn't telling me not to pursue my dream, or that my ideals were wrong. We both knew it, our dream was an almost unattainable fantasy full of hypocrisy. To save someone, he had to be in danger first. But we both agreed it was a beautiful dream worth fighting for.

He only warned me of what it would take to follow his path of solitude.

And yet, it was enough for my spirit to falter.

"Is that all your determination? Showing you what it means to 'catch up to me' was enough to give up?"

He told me the same thing again in his neutral tone. It was strange. He was a man of few words.

I started to think about what he had told me, and finally I understood it.

He had already said it at the beginning of our talk. We are very similar people, but that doesn't mean that we are the same person.

I found my resolve again, and decided on the path I was going to follow.

I began to rise again. Avalon, the scabbard of Excalibur, was already beginning to heal my wounds.

"_I am the bone of my sword."_

I uttered those words almost without realizing it. They were the same words as the first line of Archer's aria, but I felt that they were also the first of mine.

"I see that you finally made up your mind."

"Yes. I've already decided which path I am going to follow. I'm not going to catch up to you, I'm going to surpass you."

"Hoh, and how are you going to do that?." I knew his surprise was faked. He probably already expected me to come to this conclusion.

"I will become a hero of justice, but I will not abandon my loved ones to do it. I will do it with them. I will not go this way alone, I will follow this path along the people I care about."

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Tohsaka smiling a little flushed, and Saber nodding approvingly.

But by far the most shocking thing was the smile that Archer showed. It was the first time I saw him smile.

"Then, I only have one last question. Can you keep up with me?"

Then it was my turn to smile. "It's not if I can keep up with you. Keep up you with me!"

I traced Kanshou and Bakuya back and ran to him. As soon as I reached him, I threw an upward cut on him with Bakuya.

He stopped my attack by crossing both blades in front of him, and to the surprise of both, his swords cracked.

For the first time, I forced him to replace his pair of married swords. My tracing was already closer to his.

Of course, his speed to project was far superior, and the next moment I had to stop his attack with his new pair of blades.

I crouched to one side and dodged one of his swings, taking advantage to position myself on his back. He barely took a few moments to turn around, making a backhand cut with Bakuya.

I jumped over his attack and rotated my body in the middle of the air to make with all my strength a downward swing with Bakuya.

He stopped him with both blades without difficulty and forced my blade to the side. I turned to land facing him, and I barely had time to react when he pounced on me making a downward cut with both blades.

I lifted both blades to receive the attack and was pushed back. The strength of his attack even raised dust and pieces of earth.

Before he continued with another attack, I jumped forward and threw him a descending cut with my Kanshou. He placed his swords horizontally above his head and stopped my attack. He then forced my sword upward, causing an opening in my torso, and immediately kicked me.

I flew several meters down the hill. It felt as if a car had run over me. If it wasn't for the reinforcement, several ribs would have broken.

As soon as I landed, I woke up again with a face full of determination. I was starting to get tired, and my prana reserves were running out. But, my resolve was stronger than ever.

I'd been over my limit for a while.

Archer waited for me in place, with a relaxed posture, but ready to go into action at any moment. The little smile was still on his face.

I had to keep moving forward, to show him my resolve. To show him that what I said wasn't just talk. I was really going to surpass him.

I threw myself back at him and the fight resumed. Even though I knew he was holding back, I felt like every time, my skills were closer to his.

We kept fighting for a few minutes, until I finally realized I was out of prana. I stopped one of his lunges with Kanshou, and both swords destroyed each other.

Unlike him, I could no longer project another sword. But I had finally succeeded. I managed to open an opening on the left side of his torso.

"Haaaaaah!" I grabbed Bakuya with both hands and threw a thrust aiming at his abdomen with all my remaining strength.

I was going to achieve it. I was going to strike my first blow.

My eyes opened wide when he quickly moved his left hand and caught my blade between his fingers with a clamp grip.

"That's enough. You approved."

"Huh?" I couldn't help but be confused when he stopped our fight suddenly.

"I asked you to show me your determination, and after seeing it, I approve. You still have a long way to go, but now that your doubts have cleared up, I think you're ready to pursue your ideals."

He let go of my sword and I retreated as he let it go. At that moment, I began to feel all the fatigue accumulated in my body. My legs trembled and I ended up sitting on the arid ground.

Tohsaka and Saber were closing in on us, and Archer turned around and walked to the top of the hill.

"Now that you've passed, I guess I have to show you your 'graduation present'."

In that moment, I noticed something I hadn't noticed before because of our intense combat.

Unlike the arid and lifeless soil of the rest of the hill, the top of the hill was covered with grass of a vibrant green color. There was a sword, which unlike all the others, was not covered with rust. It was strangely similar to the sword of Saber. In fact, its shape was the same, the only difference was that it did not have the golden and blue ornamentations.

It did not give off the same majestic aura as Excalibur, but for some reason, it gave me a warm and comforting feeling.

Saber and Rin noticed it too and stared at it. Saber's face began to fill with wonder. It seemed that she understood what Archer wanted to show us.

His hand landed on the hilt of the sword, and it began to shine with a golden light.

"I've already told you several times, haven't I? Saving everyone isn't completely impossible. That's not just what I think. I know that saving them all is possible, because I achieved it once. This is the light I found at the end of my journey. My true noble phantasm, and the representation of all my ideals and beliefs. The nameless sword of promised salvation."

He pulled the sword from the ground and its light spread all over reality marble. The once barren hill filled with rusty swords, became a green meadow full of life and endless swords, all of them spotless. The evening skies covered with rust mist, became a completely clear blue sky.

We couldn't help but be moved by such a view.

"He... He really made it." Saber's voice was a mixture of surprise and admiration.

I can't find words to describe the sensations and feelings I have at this moment. Ahead of us was the crystallization of a miracle. A miracle achieved only with effort and dedication. Because he never gave up and retreated, he continued to pursue his dream without ceasing, in the end he managed to reach it.

Before me was proof that my dream is not impossible.

Archer's voice took me out of my shock. "This is the sword capable of creating the miracle of 'saving all', the representation of our dream fulfilled. But, it has a flaw. Because of my psychological distortion, I never considered myself to be someone who had to be saved. Therefore, this sword is capable of saving them all, but it does not include me. I will allow you to copy it into your reality marble, but if you really want to surpass me, you will have to create another sword. One that does not have that flaw."

Before I could answer him, I felt a hand perch on my shoulder. I turned to look at Tohsaka, who was smiling confidently at me.

"You can do it, Emiya-kun."

I smiled at her in response and looked back at Archer. "Yes. I will become a hero of justice who will save them all, including myself."

"Then, I guess we can call off the training."

After saying that, reality marble began to collapse and moments later, we were in the dojo of my house.

"Now, Rin, it's up to you to do what you have to do to transfer prana to Shirou. If you need my help with anything, just ask for it."

Upon hearing that, Tohsaka separated from me and her cheeks turned red as well as her blouse.

"I can't do that here, I need time to prepare! And I won't let you participate either!"

Faced with her sudden nervousness, Archer raised an eyebrow. "And what are you going to do?"

Tohsaka whispered something unintelligible to answer Archer and he asked her to repeat it. At that, Tohsaka seemed angry.

"Why do I have to repeat myself!? Don't you mind embarrassing a lady!? I'm going to perform a tantric ritual!

Saber, Archer and I looked at Rin with questionable expressions. Apparently, neither of us knew what she was talking about.

"Oh, my gosh. Why are the three of you so dense? I'll explain as I go. Saber, I need you too. Archer, don't even think about snooping around!"

Tohsaka took my arm and Saber's arm and dragged us into one of the rooms.

"Hi hi. When you finish, let me know and we will plan the assault. Then we will rest."

Moments later, I had an... adult experience, next to Saber and Rin.

* * *

**And that's all so far. What did you think? As Archer and Shirou both thought their dream is not wrong, this time the discussion was about the path to pursuing it. Now, this Shirou has a new goal, to save them all, including himself and without having to abandon his loved ones, that is, surpass King of Fakers.**

**It was a tough one. Their souls are compatible enough, because of the Unlimited Blade Works they both possess, for the King of Fakers skills to be inherited by Shirou. But, this one couldn't see and assimilate Archer's memories and experiences because they're not exactly the same person. Put simply, King of Fakers did not have 'slides' to express his point.**

**But the fundamental difference was what Shirou himself expressed. This time, he doesn't get along with Archer, he thinks they can get along.**

**I don't know if you've picked up the hidden reference in Archer's thoughts. If so, yes, this is not the timeline from which the heroic spirit EMIYA originated. The reason that man ended up like this is because no one showed him what would happen if he went that way. After this talk, this Shirou has even less chance of becoming EMIYA than UBW Shirou.**

**Also, the way Shirou explains how King of Fakers achieved the miracle of saving everyone is a reference at the end of the Fate route. Just as Shirou had to pursue endlessly and Saber had to wait continuosly, in order to be able to meet in Avalon, King of Fakers pursued his dream without ever retiring until he finally succeeded.**

**On another note, even though I didn't plan it, it looks like this is leading to the harem route. Or at least, now that Sakura is free, Shirou will also spend time with her and will not be alone with Rin.**

**And no, the prana transfer is not for Shirou to fight Gilgamesh, but for Saber to fight at full power. Let us remember that Lancer is also alive.**

**I have already more or less planned as the final battle will be. I have only one doubt. To this day, I still don't know why Gilgamesh didn't kill Assassin when he went to Ryyudouji Temple to invoke the Grail Hole. Servants are only supposed to enter through the door, although the bounded field may not affect him by having a living body. It still seems strange to me.**

**The thing is, this time, there's Lancer and Kirei, too. The first has to pass the door yes or yes, and as badass as Kojiro is, I doubt he can beat Lancer in combat, let alone if Gilgamesh decides to fight to speed things up.**

**The question is, should I leave him alive or not? It wouldn't influence much, it would just be one more fight in the next chapter. This time it would be the first time that your opinion would directly influence history, but I really can't make up my mind. An off-camera death would be very sad for such a good character.**

**Without much more to say, as always, I appreciate the follows, favs and any kind of constructive review. I would also like to know what you think of this chapter or if anyone has any questions.**

**With this, I bid you farewell for now. We will see you in the last chapter of this story.**


	10. Epilogue: the conclusion

**See you again, people. Exams are over for now, so here's the ending to this story. You will not be able to complain, the fight against Gilgamesh covers almost half the chapter. And first of all, I finally decided that Assassin and Lancer had their epic match off-camera. It was the most logical choice, and not a bad ending for Assassin, who had his epic duel at the end. Anyway, I thank everyone who shared his/her opinion.**

**And I know it's been a while since I've said this, but this time, playing the Emiya theme while you are reading the figth is obligatory. I even put a discreet warning at the time you have to play it.**

**Without anything else to say, let the climax of the Fifth Holy Grail War begin.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any right over Type-Moon or Fate franchise.**

* * *

I spent a couple of hours waiting for them to finish the 'tantric ritual', and after seeing that no one left the room and no noise was heard from inside, I decided to go in. I found the three of them sleeping in the same bed half naked and all sweaty. Their clothes were scattered all over the place, and the three of them slept in each other's arms.

It took my brain a few minutes to process the scene in front of me. What the hell had happened while I wasn't here? It was supposed to be a simple prana transfusion, wasn't it?

After several failed attempts to wake them up, I ended up wiping their sweat, dressing them and tucking them in.

I guess all the tiredness accumulated during the whole war got to them.

Anyway, we still had until the next night to rest, so I let them rest.

Already in the afternoon of the following day, after sleeping twelve hours, we began to plan the assault.

According to Rin, the Grail would manifest this time on Mount Enzo. Because Saber and I only can enter through the main entrance, we decided to go all together head-on. We agreed that Shirou and Rin would face Kotomine Kirei and rescue Illya while Saber fights Lancer and I fight Gilgamesh.

Rin objected at first, saying that I was going to sacrifice myself for the sake of others again. In the end, I managed to convince her that I was the one who had the best chance of beating him thanks to my reality marble.

From there, the conversation happened to why I don't remember my name, which led me to reveal my nature as Counter Guardian to Shirou and Saber. The atmosphere became one of sadness and condolence.

I managed to convince them that my condition was not so bad. In fact, it could have been much worse.

Then, Saber revealed that she also made a contract with Alaya just before she died. In exchange for being able to fight in the Holy Grail Wars to get her wish, she would serve humanity in death.

That solved the mystery of why she could not change into spiritual form and preserve the memories of her previous summon. She was 'technically' still alive.

Surprisingly she agreed when I told her that completing the contract wasn't a good idea, even if it meant she wouldn't get her wish.

And well, here we are now, climbing the stairs leading to Ryuudouji Temple.

As expected, there was no sign of Assassin, although strangely there were signs of a fight on the stairs. I don't remember that the fight between Assassin and Saber left the place in such bad state.

We didn't attach much importance to it and we kept moving forward. We all had determined looks on our faces.

We were heading for the final battle. The fate of all humanity was at stake. If we fail, everything will be lost. This was all or nothing.

But that option wasn't even in our minds for a moment.

We were already coming to the end of the stairs. Gilgamesh's oppressive and majestic aura could already be felt.

But none of us wavered.

We wound up at the bottom of the stairs, and there the King of Heroes was waiting for us. He remained in his casual clothes and did not equip the golden armor that, according to Saber, he wore in the previous war.

His posture was relaxed, with his left hand resting on his hip. It seemed that he was not yet going to take us seriously.

His gaze focused on me, and I immediately felt all the pressure from before concentrated and directed at me.

I did not falter, and this time, instead of a cold look, I responded with a resolute look.

I felt it from the first time we met. We both knew it. We were natural enemies, completely opposite poles. It was inevitable that we would end up clashing with the other.

I stopped and turned to look at my comrades. Although at first we were strangers cooperating because of the sudden circumstances, we could now consider ourselves partners. Our bounds had deepened after fighting so many battles side by side. We all had full confidence in each other.

"Well, I guess this is where we part. I'd like to say a good farewell, but I suck at it. It's been a pleasure meeting people like you and fighting alongside you." I couldn't help but scratch the back of my head.

Saber stepped forward and planted her sacred sword before her, resting her hands on the handle of the hilt.

"Archer, no, King of Fakers, I want you to know it's been an honor for me to fight beside you. I tell you this, not as the servant Saber, but as a fellow king who was chosen by the sword in the stone."

I could do nothing but nod at such a farewell, and then it was Shirou who stepped forward. This one leaned forward, forming practically a straight angle.

"Archer, I thank you for all you have helped me in. In improving my magecraft, in choosing my way to become a hero of justice, and in showing me my dream realized."

"You don't have to lean down like that. I just gave you a couple of tips and hints, the rest was up to you. Also, do I need a reason to help someone?"

We couldn't help but smile for a few moments. Is this what it feels like when someone inherits your legacy?

Finally, it was Rin's turn. She had been thoughtful while Shirou and Saber were saying goodbye, and her face showed that she was hesitating.

But, now the doubts disappeared and she gave me a determined look.

She raised her left hand and stretched her arm upward, displaying her two remaining command seals.

"Archer, by my command seal, I order you to show me the shine of victory and return alive!"

One of the seals shone before it disappeared and I felt a great magical urge in my body.

"I won't forgive you if you die, Archer. I'll summon you again so I can torment you."

"You're asking for something complicated, Rin. I don't make promises I'm not sure I can keep, but I did promise you that I would try to change, that I would try not to throw my life away so easily. Impossible is a word that doesn't exist in my vocabulary, so I will do my best to win."

The seriousness of our faces disappeared for a moment, and I decided to say goodbye to her, this time appropriately.

"Take care, Rin. I don't know if I've been a good servant to you, but, to me, you've been the best master I could have."

She blushed a little and looked away. "Don't say those things to a girl, fool. And I also told you to learn to value yourself more."

She turned to look at me again, and the shame disappeared from her face.

"I know at first I was complaining about not summoning Saber, but you got me to change my mind. I'm proud to have you as my servant, Archer. I wouldn't change you for anyone else."

With that, the goodbyes were over and all three headed for the back where the Grail, Kotomine and Lancer were.

"Are you done with your nonsense talk?"

I turned to face Gilgamesh again. He had not lifted a finger while I was saying goodbye to Rin, Shirou and Saber.

"Yes. Now, we can continue what we couldn't finish yesterday."

"So you're going to sacrifice yourself to buy time while they destroy the Grail. What stupidity. Throwing your life away for others is nothing but hypocrisy."

"Hypocrisy, huh? Tell me something I don't already know. Before we start fighting, why don't we switch to a more suitable scenario?"

The King of Heroes raised an eyebrow at my strange question.

I raised my right arm and stretched it forward, with my hand open. I laid my left hand on my right arm, and began to recite my aria.

"_I am the bone of my sword."_

Prana began to accumulate on the ground around my feet.

Gilgamesh was quick to react. The Gate of Babylon opened up behind him and started throwing weapons at me.

_"Steel is my body and fire is my blood."_

I traced Rho Aias in front of me. The noble phantasms collided against the first layer of the shield and revved without being able to penetrate it. Being the ultimate conceptual weapon to stop projectiles, it was to be expected that the noble phantasms thrown just caused a couple of cracks to the shield.

"_I have created over a thousand blades."_

_"Unaware of loss,"_

_"no aware of gain."_

Still, with all the weapons that were hitting the shield, the damage was piling up, and finally the first layer gave way. I immediately felt the damage in my body, but I ignored it.

_"Whistood pain to create weapons, chasing an ever distant dream."_

"What? I can't get through it?" The voice of the King of the Heroes sounded incredulous, I do not know if because he could not get through Rho Aias, or because of the immense amount of prana before him.

_"There are no regrets, this is the path I chose."_

The prana around me was overflowing. The immense anergy provided to me by Rin, combined with the command seal, made my body practically feel no tension when casting the spell.

_"My whole life was... Unlimited Blade Works!"_

The illusory fire exploded outward, enveloping Gilgamesh and me. The ground was even cracked by immense power.

The reality around us was rewritten. The next moment, we were standing on the hill of swords. This time, we were both on a hillside.

I wasn't planning on using my true noble phantasm. After all, we were going to kill each other. This guy is beyond any salvation.

"A reality marble!? This is why we are natural enemies!" Seeing the world in which he now stood, the expression of the King of Heroes passed from unbelief to understanding. The very existence of this world was enough to start irritating him.

"Yes. My magecraft doesn't consists in creating swords, but creating a world full of them. That is the only magecraft allowed for me."

I picked up a random sword and pointed it at him.

"There is no need to be surprised. Everything here is fake, imitations. But there is no rule that says that an imitation cannot beat the original. If you say you are the original, then I will overcome all your weapons and destroy your existence."

I reinforce my body to the limit and step forward.

"Here I come, King of Heroes. Do you have enough weapons in your stock?"

_(Play Emiya theme, original version.)_

"Hah, don't get all mixed-up, lowlife! You being my natural enemy is an affront to the King. I will eradicate your shameful existence!"

The Gate of Babylon opened again and the rain of weapons resumed. At the same time, with an mental order, the swords around me shoot out of the ground in the direction of his weapons.

I face the first weapon coming at me with the one in my hand. Both swords destroy each other.

That was the beginning of a cacophony of metallic noises and shocks. Swords collide in the air constantly, destroying each other.

This time it was different. My swords were ready to be used, so I just had to shoot them.

I pumped prana into my legs and performed a prana burst to hurl myself at high speed towards him.

As much as he kept trying to stop me by firing even more weapons, my weapons continually countered his.

Moreover, my swords were fired at a faster speed. Every passing second, he was losing ground.

"Guh, why are the swords of this mongrel giving me trouble!?" Unbelief could be seen in the face of the golden servant.

Before reaching him, I took a sword from the ground. This was red and had the shape of a flame.

"I will borrow your power for a moment, Nero."

I knew overwhelming him with my swords would only work until he decided to start using his noble phantasms. That's why, to beat him, I'd have to be the one to use the noble phantasms first.

I poured prana into the sword and swung it forward, firing a great flame. The fire blinded my opponent for a few moments. I took the opportunity to let the experience of the weapon invade me to imitate Nero's combat style.

My body emulated Nero's great agility, and I threw myself forward at even more speed than before, performing Nero's characteristic forward thrust. The weapon was engulfed in flames again and I became a red comet.

Gilgamesh drew a sword from his treasury and swung it into the flare. This one fired an icy wind that crashed into my attack and countered it, generating quite a lot of water vapor.

I went through the steam, and Gilgamesh barely had time to move aside. I slowed down, grabbed another sword from the ground with my left hand and swung it toward Gilgamesh. He swung his ice sword, with a completely opposite movemente to mine. Both blades clashed and broke.

I swung Aestus Estus toward him, and he drew another sword and swung it in another movement opposite to mine. Both swords clashed and fell apart again. The Golden King drew another sword from his treasury, and I drew another sword from the ground. We hit them again and broke them.

We continued like this for a few moments. Gilgamesh was forced to counter my swift attacks, using his blades himself and not shooting them.

"Impossible! How am I being cornered by such a sham!?"

The King's patience ran out, and then a golden undulantion appeared beneath my feet. From this came a great sword, easily the size of a person. I could barely move back and put the sword in my hands before me.

My sword broke, and I was thrown up. The space just above me was filled with golden undulations and weapons rained down on me.

Immediately, all the swords that were on the ground below me turned and shot up, clashing with the King's weapons. The shrapnel caused some scratches, but I managed to get out practically unscathed.

I turned around in the air to face my enemy again. I called a long, red sword with a gray hilt just in front of me with the blade pointing to Gilgamesh. It was Gram, demonic sword of both glory and ruin, one of the swords of the king's election that originated from Merodach.

Its original appearance was almost the same as its original prototype, but because it broke and was reinforced, it now looked like this.

I let the experience of the weapon invade me and I imitated the style of its wielder, Sigurd.

In his words, _"I think throwing it is more effective"_. So I did exactly that.

I pumped prana into my right fist and hit the handle of the hilt, so that my arm was perfectly aligned with the sword. At the same time, I casted a prana burst, causing the sword to wrap in red light, similar to that of Merodach, and shoot out at a huge speed towards Gilgamesh.

He drew from his treasury a sword very familiar to me. It was the original Merodach.

He poured prana into it and it was wrapped in golden light. He swung Merodach towards Gram and both swords of the election collided, causing a massive explosion.

I called my Merodach in my hands and performed a downward swing as I fell upon Gilgamesh. I also pumped prana into the weapon to wrap it in golden light.

"Haaaaah!"

The King cleared the smoke by quickly moving his sword, and immediately had to place it over his head to block my attack.

The crash caused a large shockwave that cracked the ground and the swords around us were torn off.

"Onore!"

He forced me to land on the ground and we began to cross swords.

It was obvious that I had much more skill with the sword than he did. Gilgamesh simply balanced it carelessly, his attacks had no strategy behind them, and he defended himself with only his reflexes.

He was being cornered little by little, he could barely keep up with me. With every clash, his expression was more irritated.

"Why this mere glasswork imitation doesn't break against the original!?"

"Heh. Merodach is a noble phantasm deeply rooted in my legend. In fact, it is one of the reasons why I am called King of Fakers. Therefore, it is one of the weapons that I can almost replicate perfectly."

"Onore!"

Due to his growing frustration, the King of Heroes threw a completely careless horizontal cut.

I struck his Merodash below with an upward swing, causing the sword to fly out of the King's hand.

I then threw a diagonal cut down on his unprotected chest. He jumped back, but still received a superficial cut.

The blood started to stain the casual suit that was still intact after fighting with Berserker, me, Saber and Rider.

Before I could continue my attack, I had to jump backwards because the Gate of Babylon opened up on me and started firing weapons.

"Onore! I can't believe I have to go all out to beat you!" The Gate of Babylon reopened behind him and continued to fire weapons in my direction.

"Haaaah!" I pumped prana into Merodach and swung it forward.

From it came a burst of light that deflected or destroyed all the weapons that had been fired at me.

Then I gave a mental order and a large number of swords were fired into the golden ripples produced by Gate of Babylon. My swords struck all the weapons that were to be fired, forcing them back into the treasury.

I kept running towards him. I had to keep pushing, I couldn't let him pull himself together.

When I was barely five meters from him, all the space around me was filled with golden undulations. I was completely surrounded and had no escape route available.

My eye of mind started working at full speed. The safest option would be to use Rho Aias, but that would make my advance stop and remain cornered.

I needed a weapon so that I could defend myself of all the weapons and be able to resume my attack.

As much as I searched within my arsenal, there was no such noble phantasm in it.

But, there was a weapon that possessed a technique that would allow me to strike all the weapons at once in a single instant.

After releasing Merodach, I stretched my left arm up and supported my right hand on my left bicep. In my left hand appeared the stone axe-sword of Berserker.

My body was shaken by its enormous weight, but it managed to replicate the immense strength of the black giant.

"Trigger off." I visualized in my mind all the weapons flying towards me as targets and triggered the technique.

"Set _Nine Lives Blade Works._"

My body surpassed the speed of sound, using God's speed. In an instant, the twenty-seven noble phantasms were struck and deflected.

If Berserker had been able to perform this technique, he would have had some chance of beating Gilgamesh.

My arm was at its limit, and I could barely perform a quarter of the attacks of the original technique. I reinforced the broken parts of my left arm and pumped prana into my legs to perform a prana burst.

I threw myself at the King of Heroes by swinging Berserker's weapon with the same force as this. That was the last attack I could make with this weapon.

As I was about to land my attack, a huge golden undulation appeared in front of Gilgamesh. Out of this came a black sword with some green fragments on its blade.

To call it gigantic would be an understatement. Its size was comparable to that of the tallest skyscrapers in the city of Fuyuki.

My attack hit the sword, and the sheer weight of its existence caused me to revote and fly back many feet.

The axe-sword broke and I hit the ground with my back. I slipped a few feet to stop, and I had no time to review the damage I had suffered when the massive sword descended upon me.

The structural grasp went into effect immediately. It was Ig-Alima, Green Field Cutting Through the Thousand Mountains, a divine construction.

Its plane could not be replicated entirely within my reality marble because, as a human being, I could not fully understand its structure.

However, I had no sword that could stop that sword. My only option was to fight fire with fire.

"HAAAAAAAAH!"

The amount of prana I needed to trace a copy of that sword was absurd, and that was a partially empty copy.

Both swords clashed and created a huge shock wave. My projection was almost cut off by the original, but itmanaged to stop it from falling on me.

Both giant swords fell to the ground, raising a huge cloud of dust. They looked like a huge monolithic monument offered to the divinities.

With that fixed, I checked the condition of my body. My left arm bled everywhere. The muscles were torn and the bones fractured. It was regenerating at a good pace, and the swords of my inner world manifested to sew the wounds. I could continue to use it for a while.

"I can't believe I have to use my sword against a lowlife like you."

I turned to look back at the King of Heroes. He had drawn from his treasury a strange sword. Its handle was gilded, with some blue symbols, and its 'blade' was made up of three black cylinders aligned on top of each other with red runes.

Just seeing that 'sword' gave me a headache. It was a divine construct, but unlike Ig-Alima, I couldn't get any reading from it. Its structure was completely incomprehensible to the human mind. Therefore, that sword could not be replicated in my inner world.

"I will destroy you along with your false world!"

The sword's cylinders began to spin at great speed, and it was enveloped by red winds spinning at great speed, creating a vortex of destruction. Space itself seemed to be tearing apart.

Then, I understood it. That was the strongest sword in this world. A creation that existed even before of the concept of 'sword'. That's why I couldn't analyze it.

There was no sword in this world that could face that weapon.

To get out of this, it was going to take a miracle.

And then, I realized that next to me was the crystallization of a miracle. The 'sword' that managed to reach the unattainable.

The situation I was in was exactly the same as it was when I fought Primate Murder. If I lose here, humanity will be lost. Therefore, to save them all, I must face that 'sword'.

I drew the sword of promised salvation, and the reality marble came to resemble the ever-distant utopia. I lifted it over my head and started pouring all the prana I had left in it.

"Hah! A cheap copy of Saber's sacred sword will do you no good!" The King of Heroes seemed to confuse my noble phantasm with Excalibur.

He was right. As powerful as Excalibur was, it could not match the power of that 'sword'. And that would be the case with my 'sword' under normal conditions, but this time the requirements have been met.

To achieve the miracle of saving all, the condition of that 'sword' being stopped must be met. There is still hope.

"ENUMA ELISH!"

"HAAAAAAH!"

We both swing our 'swords' forward. The unstoppable vortex of destruction collides with the golden light bearing a miracle.

Both forces seem to be matched. One 'sword' tries to destroy all creation, while the other tries to save all. Two completely opposite concepts, as well as their owners.

A paradox occurred, similar to the hypothetical case of what would happen if an unstoppable force hit an immovable object.

We both gave it all, poured all our prana into our noble phantasms, but none of us made it.

In the end, the unstable energies got out of control, and the world literally exploded.

* * *

The fight in front of the Holy Grail had already begun long ago.

When Saber, Shirou and Rin reached the back of the temple, they encountered the already manifested the Grail's hole.

From this came an ominous black mud that killed and destroyed everything it touched. They were the curses within the Grail condensed and physically manifested.

Illya found herself naked and bound with magical ties to the black hole. She was totally unconscious.

And of course, there were Lancer and Kotomine Kirei. While the first only wanted to enjoy a good fight, while the other, after seeing the content of the Grail for himself, wanted to release it into the world.

Although Lancer was no longer holding back like the first night of the war, now Saber was fighting with all her might.

Thanks to Shirou's augmented prana reserves, her parameters had returned to those she had in the last war and she could use the prana burst without worrying about running out of prana.

Lancer could barely keep up with the King of Knights in all her glory. He was being cornered, and he would be forced to use his noble phantasm to try to win over Saber. His spear had already failed to kill Saber once, but that was only because of Saber's high rank of luck.

Kotomine Kirei was in a similar situation.

Shirou and Rin's teamwork was perfect. They were completely synchronized.

Shirou fought hand-to-hand with the priest using Kanshou and Bakuya, while Rin supported him with distant attacks with her gems and the Gandr curse.

With the drastic increase in Shirou's abilities, he could fight equally with the priest, and even overcome him. He made sure Kirei didn't attack Rin, and he created openings in his defense for her to attack with her magecraft.

Besides, now that Rin was ignoring the supervisor's provocations, she was also fighting to her full potential.

From the immense drainage in her prana reserves she could sense that Archer was giving absolutely everything to defeat Gilgamesh.

They could not stay behind. If they wanted to go and help him, they had to destroy the Grail as soon as possible.

Finally, the priest was cornered in front of the Grail hole. He no longer had black keys because they broke against the married swords, and his body was filling with wounds.

Still, instead of despair, the supervisor showed a perverse smile.

He sank his hand into one of the pools of black mud, and to the surprise of Rin and Shirou, his hand was not consumed by curses.

That's because Kotomine Kirei was practically one with mud. His heart was destroyed by Emiya Kiritsugu in the previous war, and what was beating in his chest was an artificial organ created by black mud.

Kirei's smile widened as he threw the mud in his hand towards Rin.

The unexpected action prevented Rin from having time to dodge. She was going to take the attack directly.

"Watch out, Tohsaka!"

However, Shirou did manage to react in time and pushed Rin aside.

But, all he could do was change who was going to receive the attack. The mud enveloped Shirou and swallowed him up.

"Emiya-kun!" Rin screamed hysterically looking at the mud mass next to her. Tears threatened to spring from her eyes.

The figth between the two servants stopped for a few moments to observe the scene. Saber knew that Shirou was still alive through their bond, but he wouldn't last long inside that thing.

"You're running out of time, Saber. Why don't we finish this here?" While Lancer was saying that, Gae Bolg wrapped itself in red prana in preparation to activate its noble phantasm.

He was right. She had to finish this now.

Then, to Lancer's surprise, Saber rushed forward instead of jumping out of the scope of his noble phantasm.

The Irish lancer showed a wild smile at that. "All right then. GAE BOLG!"

Shirou's consciousness was fading. Curses were consuming his existence.

He knew that there was no shield that could stop that attack. Curses affected reality itself.

Even so, in his last moments, he saw a light. The same light that Archer had shown him. The light that King of Fakers found at the end of his life.

He knew what to do.

"Trace on."

He had never projected that sword, but, his concept was so deeply rooted in his being that the process was almost completed alone.

At the same time, just as the curse of Gae Bolg was activated, the true noble phantasm of Saber manifested itself before her.

Avalon, the King's utopia. The absolute defense.

Gae Bolg's curse caused the target's heart to be pierced automatically if it was in its reach.

But, Avalon introduced its owner into the unreachable realm of fairies. Therefore, the spear could not pierce her heart because it was unreachable to it. The only weapon in this world that could reach it was a certain 'sword'.

Lancer's surprise was capital when he saw that his noble phantasm had absolutely no effect on Saber.

And by the time he reacted, it was too late.

"EXCALIBUR!"

Saber had already crossed the distance between them and swung her sword wrapped in golden light to Lancer's chest.

His body was split in two. The fight ended then.

"So that's your real noble phantasm, huh. Well, I guess dying at the hands of the legendary King of Knights isn't so bad. This was really fun."

After saying that, the son of light vanished with a smile in specks of prana.

While that was going on, the mud surrounding Shirou burst into golden light, revealing him with the sword he inherited from Archer, the sword of promised salvation.

Kirei stared stunned as its light purified and eradicated the curses as if they were nothing.

"Kotomine Kirei!"

Shirou rushed forward in a determined look. Kirei could do nothing but watch the 'sword' stab him in the heart. The conceptual weapon then released its light into the priest's body and purged all the corruption inside.

His lifeless body collapsed. The corruption was the only thing keeping the priest alive since he was killed in the previous war. Once that was eliminated, his body stopped working.

The battle was over. They had won.

The shackles holding Illya vanished and this one fell to the ground.

Shirou let the 'sword' fade and projected a blanket to cover her adopted sister's naked body.

At that moment, he received a blow to his head. He turned to see Rin with tears in her eyes.

"Why did you do that foolishness, stupid?! For a moment I thought I had lost you!"

This one answered a little embarrassed. "Well, I saw you in danger and couldn't help but jump in and save you. My body acted alone. But, anyway, I managed to get out of the way."

"And what would have happened if you couldn't have used Archer's noble phantasm? You would have died!"

The discussion continued for a few moments until Saber approached them.

"It's time to end this." Both masters nodded and Saber set out to fire her noble phantasm.

She lifted her sacred sword over her head and it began to glow with golden light. The sword of victory promised that carries the dreams and ideals of all warriors past, present and future. All this was condensed in one attack, to destroy the evil before her.

She stepped forward and shouted the name of the last noble phantasm.

"EXCALIBUR!"

The sword fired a disintegrating beam of light that completely enveloped the Grail's hole and destroyed it. A huge pillar of light formed that ascended to the sky and specks of golden light began to fall all over the city.

They had finally succeeded. They had saved humanity.

But, it was time to part.

The body of Saber began to vanish without the Holy Grail sustaining her existence on this plane.

"Our pact is concluded, Shirou. You and Rin are the winners of the Holy Grail War. It has been an honor to be your servant, Shirou. I would have liked to stay with you, but I guess you already have Rin. It's a shame I can't see if Archer could have triumphed againstthe King of Heroes. Although, I know that man can make it."

With that last farewell, Saber went back to her original time.

"Let's go see how it went for Archer, Emiya-kun."

Shirou nodded as he said goodbye to Saber and followed her.

* * *

My body was completely torn. The huge explosion had completely shattered my reality marble, and we were again at the door of the Ryuudouji temple.

The amount of broken bones and tears in my body was immense. I was already on the verge of collapse. But my determination did not give up.

I was using my 'sword' as a crutch to keep standing. If I fell, I could not get up again. I would surely vanish.

But I couldn't let that happen yet. I had to make sure that the King of Heroes was not going to stop Shirou, Saber and Rin.

Swords were manifested all over my body. Trying to sew my wounds was useless. But, they replaced my broken bones and helped me to stand. My body was made out of swords.

The King of Heroes did not fare better. The explosion also affected him and his body was also torn.

"Inconceivable. How is it that my 'sword'... guh, could not overcome yours?"

"Heh, I present to you my true noble phantasm, King of Heroes. The sword that accomplished the miracle of saving all. If your goal is to exterminate humanity, isn't it logical that this sword should be responsible for stopping you?"

We were both completely dry of prana, but, unlike me who could no longer keep my 'sword' in existence, his 'sword' did not need prana to continue to exist on this plane.

Before either of us could do anything, we heard a huge explosion. We turned to see a huge pillar of light protruding from the roof of the Ryuudouji temple.

That was certainly Excalibur. They had done it, they had won.

"Damned useless priest and his mangy dog!" The anger within Gilgamesh was reaching its limits.

He encountered a sword that could match with his most powerful treasure, and his plans had just been completely thwarted.

At that moment, my mind stopped thinking. My goal had already been fulfilled, I had no reason to continue fighting.

But still, my body kept asking me to keep fighting. My basic instinct was to destroy the enemy in front of me.

My existence right now could be defined in one word room, pain. But, I overcame it with sheer willpower. I poured determination into my ruined body and threw myself forward, taking advantage of the distraction of the King of Heroes.

By the time he turned it was too late. He tried to cover myself with his 'sword', but he was slow and my 'sword' cut off his right arm.

The limb flew off with his weapon and plunged several meters behind him. At that moment, my sword vanished and we were both unarmed.

"Onore, Faker!"

Instead of backing up and trying to get his weapon back, he screamed in anger and stamped his left fist on my face.

I barely moved. I was already ignoring the pain all over my body, a little more wasn't going to make a difference.

"Haaah!" Immediately, I counterattacked and punched him with my left hand in his face.

He didn't flinch either. His immense ego and pride did not allow him to lose.

The situation was absurd from the outside. We were both half dead. It was incredible that our attacks were so strong, and even more incredible that we received them without flinching.

It was no longer a fight between two men with opposite objectives. We simply could not accept the existence of the other.

We kept hitting each other, completely abandoning any kind of defense. There was no point defending ourselves, our bodies were already dying.

No, they were already dead. All that was left was our resolve to destroy the other. This was no longer a fight. It was just watching who died first.

I reached my limit. No, that wasn't right. I already exceeded my limit a while ago. What I felt was that I was beginning to fade.

Without the support of the Grail and with my body in such a bad state, my Independent Action ability was reaching its limit to sustain my existence.

I had to end this. Gilgamesh's body was flesh and blood. Normally that would be disadvantageous, but, in this particular situation gave him the advantage.

I charged all my determination into my fist and punched with all my remaining strength aimed at his chest.

Gilgamesh did not bother to dodge it. In fact, it's not that he didn't want to, simply, his body couldn't. Therefore, his reaction was to strike back. He threw a punch at my head with all his strength, with the intention of destroying my brain.

I leaned slightly to the left and let his fist rub against the side of my head. His attack only managed to break the part of my red cloak tied to my head, and it fell to the ground.

No, to say that I dodged it was incorrect. At that time, my left leg failed, and therefore, my body leaned to the left. For once, my E rank luck did something useful.

My fist crushed successfully into his chest. I had succeeded.

However, the reality was cruel. My fist barely pierced an inch of flesh. I couldn't get through his rib cage and damage his heart.

"Tch, this divinity thing is broken." The only thing that saved him was that his two-thirds divine body was much more resilient than a normal body.

His knee got stuck in my chest and I flew back a few meters.

I tried to get up, but my body gave way and I didn't get it. I stood on all fours, looking at him helplessly as he approached to finish me off.

"It is pityful that I can only overcome you because of my divinity. The victory is yours. Die with satisfaction, King of Fakers."

I'm sorry Rin. I won't be able to keep our promise. That's what I thought, before suddenly a black hole formed in the stump of Gilgamesh's severed right arm.

"What!?" Our surprised voices overlapped.

"Swallowing me accomplishes nothing! Wait!"

Their resistance was futile. The King of Heroes was swallowed up by the black hole.

The Holy Grail's hole?" From the ominous and repulsive nature of the hole, I knew it was part of the Holy Grail.

A golden chain shot out of the hole and wrapped itself in my right hand and started pulling hard on me. I could hardly stop myself by nailing my boots to the ground.

Gilgamesh's torso peered out of the hole. "Damn deformed abomination! Doesn't it knows that a servant cannot do the function of its core!"

I doubt he himself knows where he got the prana to draw one last weapon from his treasury.

"And you intend to take me with you!?"

"What nonsense are you saying!? I have no intention of dying! Stay there until I can climb out of here, Faker!"

"Tell that to someone who can at least stand up, asshole! Besides, I'll cut off my arm if necessary so you don't get out of there!"

We continued to struggle for a few moments. Although I said that, I had no prana to trace even a simple mundane knife to cut off my arm.

I was beginning to consider letting go myself and pushing Gilgamesh into the hole with my own body, but I stopped when I heard a voice behind me.

"Archer, dodge to the right!"

I couldn't even check whose voice it was, when my body leaned to the right by itself.

A twisted sword passed at great speed through the space where my head stood a few moments ago, and continued its course toward Gilgamesh's forehead.

"The other Faker-!"

What he was going to say was interrupted when the sword landed on his head, pushing him in.

The chain broke free of my hand and the hole closed after swallowing the lifeless body of the King of Heroes.

With nothing to lean on, I fell on my back.

"Archer!"

Rin and Shirou entered my blurred vision. This one had a copy of my black bow in his left hand.

"Good shoot."

"No problem."

The conversation was brief. I barely had the energy to talk.

"Archer, what the hell happened to you? I'll fix you right up!" Rin checked my hysterical body, but the amount of broken things was too much.

"Well, I did my best, but I couldn't keep our promise. I'm sorry Rin."

"What are you talking about? You're going to be okay."

"My spiritual core is too damaged, Rin. There is nothing you can do."

"But, if you vanish now, you will never be saved!"

Oh, so that was it. She was worried that after this I would return to my duties as Counter Guardian.

"My battle ends here, Rin. Stay with Shirou and support him so he doesn't end up like me."

Finally, Rin wiped her tears and smiled. "Yes, I know. I will strive to make him love himself and not end up alone. So you work hard too."

"Yes, I will try my best, too." I showed her my smile for the last time.

"Ah and one last piece of advice, Shirou. If ever an entity comes to you saying it's The World or Alaya, you say no to everything and spit in her face for me."

He also smiled. "I'll keep that in mind. Wait for me on the Throne of Heroes, Archer, because I will become the hero of justice who surpasses you."

With that last farewell, my body completely vanished. My last thought was, "heh, you owe me one, EMIYA. I made sure your younger self didn't become you."

* * *

The Holy Grail War ended, and Shirou and Rin returned to their daily lives together with Sakura and Illya.

This one, after speaking with Shirou and discovering her father's true intentions, decided to stay with her 'Onii-chan'.

Once they graduated, they all traveled together to the Clock Tower to study how and improve their magecraft.

Although many magus tried to buy it or steal it, Rin clung to that rusty old handle. It was the catalyst that had allowed her to invoke her precious servant, and it was the only link she had left with him.

Who knows, maybe they'd both meet again someday.

Shirou Emiya continued to pursue his dream of becoming a hero of justice, this time, along with his loved ones.

Not once did he retreat, not once did he give up. He followed his own path to surpass the hero he came to admire.

Saber, or rather, Arturia Pendragon, died on the hill of Camlann after Excalibur was returned to the lady of the lake. Her contract with Alaya was broken, and she was finally able to rest in peace.

Her spirit reached Avalon, the land of the fairies, and there she met the image of the 'sword' that reached that place.

As for King of Fakers, he continued doing his duty as Counter Guardian. His memories of the Holy Grail War were blurred and almost forgotten, but, his original spirit was willing to change himself, for a promise that remained throughout space and time.

* * *

**And here ends this story. First of all, I want to tell you that it has been a pleasure to write this story with you, my readers. I thank you for all the support you gave me all this time. Even if they were just favs, follows or short reviews of a "good chapter", I really appreciate it.**

**I can say that I had a lot of fun writing the story, although sometimes thinking about the characters' dialogue so that it would be the most faithful to the original was a headache.**

**As you may have noticed, this ending is a mixture of the end of the three routes, mostly Fate and UBW routes. The final part of the King of Fakers and King of Heros fight is a nod to Shirou and Kirei's final fight on the Heaven's Feel route.**

**And to make it more epic, yes, the scene where Shirou sees the light and traces the sword of promised salvation occurs at the same time as King of Fakers uses it against Ea.**

**I look forward to hearing your views on this chapter. This time, I put my soul into it, especially in the fight against Gilgamesh. And yes, I know the beginning is very much like the original, but the phrase _"Here I come, King of Heroes. Do you have enough weapons in your stock?"_ it's too epic to leave it out.**

**As a bonus, if you haven't noticed yet, my profile photo should be updated with the King of Fakers design by the time this chapter is updated. I know it's pretty rudimentary, but I'm not a professional artist or designer. I rely heavily on the original design of EMIYA, but going over all the descriptions of its appearance that I gave in my two stories, I really did him very similar. Anyway, take it as a prototype, I still don't decide whether to leave your face as EMIYA, or make it more like Shirou's.**

**And by the way, the swords he wield are Redeemer and Retriver.**

**Now, let's talk about the next story, because yes, this doesn't end here. I haven't written the first kiss of King of Fakers yet!**

**I haven't made up my mind yet and I'm considering several options.**

**The first would be the second singularity of Fate/Grand Order. Let us remember that in that period of time King of Fakers was alive, traveling on the European continent. The premise would be that, this time, he would become more involved with Nero and give advice to the master of Chaldea.**

**The problem would be the same as all FGO fanfics have. What gender should I give to Caldea's master? And what servants should go to the singularity with the Chaldean master?**

**The following options would be crossovers out of the Fate universe.**

**The first would be with Date a live. There are not many crossovers of these two universes, and most are abandoned.**

**In my opinion, they are two series that can be combined well. The concept of 'spirit' is practically the same as that of 'heroic spirit'. The premise would be that King of Fakers would replace Shido. The amount of humor that can generate someone with EX rank density trying to seduce the spirits is immense.**

**Moreover, Itsuka Shidou is practically an Emiya Shirou. A normal person would not risk his life to save an enemy you don't even know.**

**The fics where Shirou replaces Shidou don't even make it past the first chapter, so I wouldn't be copying anyone.**

**My other idea would be a crossover with Shinmai Maou no Testament. From this, I think that today there is no story, so it would be up to me to do the first one.**

**And you will wonder why choose this series. Well, there's a whole clan of them called the hero clan. And, more importantly, the protagonist, Toujo Basara, is an ex-heroe who abandoned his old beliefs to protect his sisters.**

**Doesn't that ring a bell? Yes, the premise is exactly the same as the MiyuShirou, only less murky.**

**This time, King of Fakers would not replace Basara, but would join the main cast to give advice to him, and why not, steal some waifu from him. His harem is very wide, nothing will happen to him because he loses a couple of waifus.**

**Shirou is a special case. I made King of Fakers not steal any of the three heroines because it feels bad. He's one my favorite characters, and with all the background he has with his heroines, taking them away from him in my opinion is disrespectful. But that only applies to him, I don't care about others.**

**Writing this story has made me start reading the visual novel, and it's a work of art, in my opinion. Adaptations don't do it justice.**

**Yeah, I know I roll up like blinds, but we're almost done.**

**Anyway, I have more options in mind, but putting them here would make this too long. If you have more options, I'd like to know them.**

**I'll just say that I prefer to avoid trends. Crossovers with Fate focus on three stories, Naruto, RWBY and High School Dxd.**

**The first two, I've never seen them and they don't strike me. Yeah, you can call me a weirdo. As for the third, although I have seen the anime, let us be honest, they have already sent to all the versions of Shirou, to each and every one of the factions. I doubt if I can come up with an idea to send King of Fakers there that hasn't already occurred to another author.**

**If you've come this far, well, I can only thank you for taking the time to listen to my ramblings.**

**With this I say goodbye for now. See you in the next story.**


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